Miami Passes Mayor's Bitcoin Resolution: What You Need To Know

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Thursday that the city will analyze incorporating Bitcoin (BTC) in the municipal government’s finances. 

What Happened: The mayor said that the state would give legislative priority to BTC, look into paying employees in the cryptocurrency and also make efforts to invest its treasury in the digital coin. 

“I want to thank the City of Miami commissioners for supporting my resolution which directs the city manager, after analysis, to procure a vendor to be able to offer our employees to get a percentage of their salary in Bitcoin.”

Exploring:

• State legislative priority
• Paying employees in Bitcoin
• Investing City treasury in Bitcoin

We got it done pic.twitter.com/88laGvVbEG

— Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) February 12, 2021

The resolution also “allows our residents to pay for fees in Bitcoin, and also would allow the city manager to cooperate with Miami-Dade county to allow for taxes to be paid in Bitcoin,” said Suarez.

The city official said that the resolution also “requests of the state legislature that the City of Miami supports efforts to make Bitcoin an acceptable currency for us to potentially invest in the future.”

Why It Matters: The commission approved the mayor’s resolution 4-1 but agreed only to study the cryptocurrency-related proposals instead of acting on them as the resolution had originally proposed, Bloomberg reported.

Florida statutes reportedly have strict limits on how local governments can invest their surplus funds. 

These funds are mostly restricted to investing in low-volatility instruments such as those issued by the U.S. government, as per Bloomberg.

Miami’s move on Bitcoin comes amid the growing acceptance of cryptocurrency by corporates and institutions.

See Also: Not Just Bitcoin, Paypal's Vision Involves Central Bank Digital Currencies Too: What You Need To Know

This week Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. On Thursday Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE: BK) said it would offer Bitcoin and digital asset custody services later this year.

Price Action: BTC traded 4.98% higher at $47,235.16 at press time.