New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives for a press conference on gun violence at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on June 26, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
New York Mayor Eric Adams has apparently pledged to enhance its annual financial disclosure form filed with the Conflict of Interest Board after failing to report his cryptocurrency holdings.
When asked if he owned any securities, including stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds or cryptocurrencies with a market value of $1,000 or more, the mayor replied “no.” The mayor’s spokesman told the Each day News on Thursday that Adams had omitted his holdings in bitcoin and etherbecause he misunderstood the query and thought it only referred to securities.
Two of the mayor’s top advisers have revealed the exact amount of bitcoin and ether they hold.
The mayor’s office did not immediately reply to CNBC’s request for comment outside of business hours. It’s not clear how much Adams cryptocurrencies are value.
The mayor quickly embraced the cryptocurrency in 2021 when he was fresh from an election victory and bitcoins it was rushing towards a record high of nearly $70,000 per coin. Since then, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has fallen to around $31,500 amid a broader decline in the digital asset market.
in November 2021Adams said he plans to just accept his first three mayoral payments in bitcoin. Whilst the sector plunged into crypto winter in 2022, Adams stays optimistic about cryptocurrencies, telling the press kept his crypto investment.
Adams’ pro-crypto platform was part of the politician’s efforts to present Miami a shot at getting money as one of the top destinations in the country for industry enthusiasts.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s progressive crypto policies have drawn startups, enterprise capital firms and cryptocurrency exchanges to Florida during the pandemic. Meanwhile, lawmakers in New York passed some of the most stringent and restrictive laws in the country regarding the crypto industry.
In a similar disclosure, Suarez announced the mayor of Miami crypto holdings $71,321 at the end of 2022, based on documents obtained by The Miami Herald through the county’s Elections Department. Suarez, who uses Jack Mallers Strike’s wallet to just accept his salary in bitcoin, also saw his net value double to $3.4 million last 12 months.
It’s not clear whether Suarez switched some of his crypto holdings to fiat money because his annual salary is $130,000, or if his mayoral income has decreased on account of prices in the bear market. CNBC contacted Suarez’s team but did not immediately receive a response.
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