In 30 days, MiamiCoin generated $5 million for Miami’s public funds. The city’s mayor is celebrating the prospect of maybe never charging taxes again.
Miami Mayor, Francis Suarez, celebrated the success of a recent initiative to fund municipal projects with profits from a city-specific crypto protocol. Last week, Miami’s city commission voted to accept the funds (about $5 million), generated partly from proceeds for mining MiamiCoin.
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Mayor Suarez shared the news on Twitter, writing, “The @CityofMiami decision to accept the gift contributions generated by the @mineCityCoins Protocol-currently valued at $4.3M-represents a major milestone in Miami’s quest to become a crypto innovation hub.”
The @CityofMiami decision to accept the gift contributions generated by the @mineCityCoins Protocol-currently valued at $4.3M-represents a major milestone in Miami’s quest to become a crypto innovation hub 🚀
Funds that will directly impact the lives of all our residents! https://t.co/pcrY4PwD06
— Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) September 14, 2021
If you’re feeling a bit lost, here’s how the city of Miami is making money from MiamiCoin.
The exchange of cryptocurrencies is authenticated through a process called “mining,” and by authenticating transactions, “miners” receive a “reward.” CityCoin, which creates city-based tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain, has developed the protocol for the MiamiCoin, with the underlying requirement being that 30% of the rewards generated by the mining go straight into a digital wallet designated for the city itself.
In other words, every time MiamiCoins are bought and sold, part of the transaction fees go to Miami town hall. That part has been quantified at a whopping $2,000 every 10 minutes, or almost 5 million dollars in just one month! However, elected leaders can use the funding “for a number of projects to benefit the city,” according to a CityCoin release.
The Miami City Commission exchanges and withdraws them in United States Dollars. By converting the funds, the municipality ensures that the city does not keep the cryptocurrency directly. This also makes sure that the funds won’t be susceptible to speculative crypto price fluctuations.
“…contributions will continue to replenish and grow as the MiamiCoin protocol gets more usage. Contributions are initially denominated in STX tokens but will be auto-converted to USD when the city accesses its wallet—ensuring funds are legally compliant and available for immediate, real-world deployment,” said CityCoin.
As the commission hasn’t stipulated how it will use the funds yet, Miami will hold them in reserve for future municipal spending. Mayor Suarez has proposed to spend them on mitigating the potential risks of climate change, helping underprivileged communities, increasing initiatives related to crypto education, and creating incentives for tech entrepreneurs – among other things.
Also, in a televised interview with Fox News earlier this week, Suarez hypothesized that “it is possible that we might live in a future where residents don’t have to pay taxes as they are generated through these third party transactions contributing money to our general fund.”
In the same interview, the Miami Mayor suggested that local businesses may soon accept payments in MiamiCoin. Widespread adoption of the coin will further increase the potential earnings from generated fees.
Featured image: Ryan Spencer on Unsplash
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