NYC mayor-elect Eric Adams says he plans to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin and the city is going to be the “center of the cryptocurrency industry”
Report Benjamin Pimentel / Protocol : Where is the capital of crypto? — Fintech! This Friday: New York versus Miami in a crypto showdown … The Daily Hodl : NYC Mayor-Elect Pledges To Take First Three Paychecks in Bitcoin, Kicking Off Competition With Miami AnTy / BitcoinExchangeGuide : A Competition Between NYC and Miami to Become the Cryptocurrency Capital of the US Aaron Limbu / blockchain.news : NYC Mayor-Elect Adams Says He Will Take First 3 Paychecks in Bitcoin BBC : New York's next mayor wants to be paid in Bitcoin Politico : Eric Adams wants Bitcoin payments as NYC mayor BeauHD / Slashdot : Incoming New York Mayor Eric Adams Vows To Take First Three Paychecks In Bitcoin Tweets: Eric Adams / @ericadamsfornyc : @FrancisSuarez @Sarasti In New York we always go big, so I'm going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor. NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait! Mayor Francis Suarez / @francissuarez : I'm going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin...problem solved! @Sarasti can you help? https://twitter.com/... Bonafidehan.Eth / @bonafidehan : Ok hear me out Let's all move to NYC https://twitter.com/... Sean Lippel / @seanlippel : As if you needed anymore reason to be bullish the future of crypto in NYC... #New York mayor-elect Eric Adams to take first three paychecks in bitcoin https://www.cnbc.com/... Simon Crosby / @simoncrosby : Wonder if he wants an NFT of the election result https://twitter.com/... Brian Armstrong / @brian_armstrong : Excited to help! https://blog.coinbase.com/... @FrancisSuarez continues to lead https://twitter.com/... Billy Corben / @billycorben : For which job? Mayor Ponzi Postalita has TWO conflict-ridden private sector gigs — in addition to his $130K compensation package as mayor of one of the poorest cities in the US — a private equity firm and law firm with a prominent crypto/blockchain practice. #BecauseMiami https://twitter.com/... @buildsoil : These mayors are declaring war on the planet and their own constituents. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Cynthia Lummis / @cynthiamlummis : Bested by the gentleman from Miami. Well done, sir. https://twitter.com/... Brian Armstrong / @brian_armstrong : So cool https://www.cnbc.com/... Hari Kunzru / @harikunzru : Eric Adams and crypto, of course. He is going to be such a weird mayor https://www.vice.com/... Jathan Sadowski / @jathansadowski : As the new NYC mayor, Eric Adams is gonna do all the crazy shit Andrew Yang wanted to but with the added benefit of being an ex-cop with a bizarre brain. The Big Apple was a weird city before, but Adams is about to make Cyberpunk 2077 real—glitches and all https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Rainer / @anthroptimism : 2035, everyone in Houston has run out of PimpC-oins from an augmented reality subscription scam we are forced to pay to the ZuckerBezos Megacorp to do VR gig work & the repo man turns off the levi-magnets beneath our houses as they sink back down into the permaflood waters https://twitter.com/... @nycdsatechwg : A message for the new mayor @ericadamsfornyc if he actually wants to help struggling New Yorkers: Public banking > Cryptocurrency https://www.vice.com/... Yves Adele Fartlow / @vogon : this is literally just municipal bonds but worse https://twitter.com/... Edward Ongweso Jr / @bigblackjacobin : our incredibly weird former cop vegan mayor wants New York City to have its own cryptocurrency—a CityCoin to compete with others like Miami's https://www.vice.com/... Adam Levin / @adam_k_levin : The new NYC mayor's visions for crypto seem risky, to put it mildly. https://www.vice.com/... Paul Krugman / @paulkrugman : We're doomed https://twitter.com/... Mark Leon Goldberg / @marklgoldberg : I sort of feel like public servants should be paid in the currency of the country in which they serve. No? https://twitter.com/... Edward Snowden / @snowden : The newly-elected mayor of New York City: https://twitter.com/... @saylor : #Bitcoin is hope for New York. https://twitter.com/... MacKenzie Sigalos / @kenziesigalos : Incoming NYC mayor @ericadamsfornyc taking his first three paychecks in #bitcoin. Latest move by Adams to try to one-up Miami as the new crypto capital of the country: https://www.cnbc.com/... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : A bitcoin beef between mayors! @ericadamsfornyc is putting in a strong rejoinder to @FrancisSuarez. https://twitter.com/... Grady Booch / @grady_booch : “GothamCoin” sounds like something the underworld of the Batman cinematic universe would use. https://www.vice.com/... Matthew Green / @matthew_d_green : This gives me the sad emojis. https://www.vice.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
New York had already explored accepting Bitcoin for parking-ticket payments, placing Adams’s compensation pledge in a longer municipal effort to make digital assets visible in city services. His declaration adds a political branding layer to that earlier payments discussion.
The related coverage later documents other US mayors using crypto initiatives to pursue talent and revenue, making the New York–Miami framing a contest to associate a city with the sector rather than a reported change in municipal policy.
First-order effects
- Adams takes on personal Bitcoin price exposure for his first three paychecks and gives crypto businesses a prominent incoming-city-hall advocate.
- New York’s crypto ambition gains a public signal, but the report identifies no new city program, payment system, or regulatory change.
Second-order effects
- Miami’s effort to market itself to crypto companies faces a more visible rival narrative from New York, increasing the value of mayoral endorsements as a recruiting signal.
- Crypto firms and local fintech advocates gain an incentive to seek concrete follow-through from Adams, such as the kinds of municipal payment options New York previously considered.
Third-order effects
- If more mayors adopt this playbook, city competition for crypto talent and activity will increasingly hinge on political signaling alongside operational policy.
- The pattern also sharpens the gap between crypto’s civic legitimacy claims and the policy controls cities need before public-facing adoption can scale.
The trend: US cities are using crypto affiliation as an economic-development and technology-branding tool, even when formal municipal adoption is limited.