Miami mayor considers investing in bitcoin with public funds

[figmentofmyass]

i'm not sure how serious he is, but the mayor of miami (12th largest city in the USA) just said in an interview with FOX business that they are considering a direct investment in bitcoins: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/miami-mayor-bitcoin-invest-cryptocurrency

The mayor of Miami wants to make his city more appealing to the tech industry by embracing bitcoin and even investing some government funds in the cryptocurrency.

“If I would have done it last year, I would have made 200 plus percent,” Mayor Francis Suarez said on FOX Business' “Varney and Co.” “So I would have looked like a genius.”

The mayor told host Stuart Varney that Miami is looking into allowing citizens to pay taxes and fees to the city in bitcoin.

“We want to be one of the most crypto-forward and technological cities in the country,” he said. “So we're looking at … creating a regulatory framework that makes us the easiest place in the United States to do business if you're doing it in cryptocurrencies.”

“I want the creative and the innovative class to come here and create high-paying jobs for my residents,” he said.

Suarez said bitcoin is “a very attractive investment” and that the city of Miami is considering “diversifying our investment portfolio” and holding a percentage of investments in bitcoin.

He believes the price of bitcoin will increase as the currency becomes more mainstream.

“It's only going to go up,” Suarez said.

public officials in control of government treasuries turning into bitcoin bulls? we're obviously entering a new era! is this just the beginning---next stop, central banks?

if they follow through, would this be the first direct investment of government funds into bitcoin?

[Harlot]

if they follow through, would this be the first direct investment of government funds into bitcoin?

Maybe the first publicly known if this happens but there is a chance that this might not be the first one. Government funds especially the ones in LGUs have cash reserves that are meant for investment and most of them invest on anything they want depending on their risk factor and as long as it is legal so I won't be surprised if their analysts and fund managers have bought cryptocurrencies as a chance for growing their fund. Also for me the mayor is already late in the action and I just hope their fund manager knows that, buying in now will just give them a little space between the ATH.

[Hydrogen]

I would prefer florida offer tax cuts or tax credits to bitcoin HODL'ers in the state. Rather than a direct investment.

The united states is at risk of falling behind the rest of the world in bitcoin and crypto. Adopting measures to encourage mass adoption would be a better policy IMO.

• Europe and asia have had bitcoin/crypto ETFs for years, the united states still does not despite years of proposals
• Europe and asia have access to crypto exchanges offering leverage on trading, USA still has none
• Europe and asia have access to stablecoins like tether, USA still has none

USA is becoming a joke as far as BTC goes. Although florida doing a direct investment might be great.  

[philipma1957]

Norway did around 1 or 2 dollars for each and every citizen (5million) as an inflation hedge.

[passwordnow]

That's a real risk for the public funds but if it's just part of the diversification, he's doing it correctly. As far as our concern, we've been into profits even before they became interested in it. But he should expect some of his townsmen to raise eyebrows on what he's planning to do.
He's wrong if he assumes that it's just always on the rise but I'm guessing that he's aware of its nature and volatility before he totally decides to put a percentage of public funds on it.

[TimeTeller]

if they follow through, would this be the first direct investment of government funds into bitcoin?

Maybe the first publicly known if this happens but there is a chance that this might not be the first one. Government funds especially the ones in LGUs have cash reserves that are meant for investment and most of them invest on anything they want depending on their risk factor and as long as it is legal so I won't be surprised if their analysts and fund managers have bought cryptocurrencies as a chance for growing their fund. Also for me the mayor is already late in the action and I just hope their fund manager knows that, buying in now will just give them a little space between the ATH.

If they are taking this risk, they should have studied all possible consequences already.
Investing public funds into crypto, is quite dangerous route to take.
Hard to explain to your constituents when things go sideways.
Maybe they got their inspiration from those financial institutions who are buying large chunks of bitcoin.

[arallmuus]

He believes the price of bitcoin will increase as the currency becomes more mainstream.

“It's only going to go up,” Suarez said.

I love the positive vibe about its only going to go up but I wonder how the media would write about this in case we see another crash like 2 years ago. We know for sure that bitcoin is definitely a hold for long term but yeah bad news is a great headline for the mainstream media

That's a real risk for the public funds but if it's just part of the diversification

Every investments are basically risk but it could pay off if you made the right decision. In this case it could be too late too catch the bull unless this is for a really long term investment .

[Wexnident]

It could be a direct benefit, but it can also be quite risky imo. Well, they're diversifying their portfolio so I guess the risk isn't that big, but well, it IS public funds, after all, they have to take into account all risks involved. It isn't an easy call I must say, though I do hope that they'd push it forward, at least it shows that some part of the government recognizes Bitcoin as a possible investment as well as a safe asset (since afaik, only private companies have done so?). Plus seeing as his attitude is "it'll only go up", I suppose it means that they are planning for a long term investment instead of a short term one.

[Darker45]

This sounds great for Bitcoin. However, personally, I think public funds should not be invested in Bitcoin, except perhaps those surplus coming from the national government. Public funds have intended uses. So it should be readily available to whatever government agency or office it belongs to. If that is to be invested into Bitcoin, it might end up not accessible in the next few years if the price of Bitcoin falls hard and recovers slow.

[so98nn]

The mayor must have gotten proper blended Starbucks that morning to publicly speak about bitcoin investments. That’s just awesome way to publish crypto space and mayor has just added more investors with confidence.

There is however little problem with this project. When you have public funds you can’t make the decision on your own no matter what for you using it. There still exists people who don’t even like digital monetisation so how would they accept mayor putting their funds into stuff like crypto?

On the contrary there is new generation whose actually waiting for the government to make bitcoin and other crypto techs more legalised with such acts.

All we need to see is, how the locals will react on this one.

[cabron]

They better do it while its still early and there bullrun too. City government normally.just.invest.to infrastructures and roads to help build more businesses in the city, investing on BTC and allowing people to used BTC in the city is new I hope it works for them. 

Norway did around 1 or 2 dollars for each and every citizen (5million) as an inflation hedge.

That is less risky and its.a.small amount coming from tax payers, they wouldnt mind.

[Obito]

This sounds great for Bitcoin. However, personally, I think public funds should not be invested in Bitcoin, except perhaps those surplus coming from the national government. Public funds have intended uses. So it should be readily available to whatever government agency or office it belongs to. If that is to be invested into Bitcoin, it might end up not accessible in the next few years if the price of Bitcoin falls hard and recovers slow.

I think this will be a good breeding ground for corruption, bitcoin offers anonymity and who will stop this pig politicians from trying to steal that invested money especially public funds which are only dispersed only by council. Not to mention that putting public funds on this kind of investments will mean that they will have money that will be sitting around not giving any dividends.

[Smartprofit]

Diversifying your investment portfolio is a great idea. 

Investing in stocks and bonds is currently quite risky.  After all, the economic situation in the United States and in the world is not very good.  Bank deposit accounts offer zero interest rates.  At the same time, keeping funds in commercial banks is also risky.  Therefore, it makes sense to keep part of the investment portfolio in Bitcoin and gold bars. 

Therefore, the proposals of the Mayor of Miami seem absolutely reasonable. 

The main thing is that the acquisition of Bitcoins with government money does not contradict US law.

[exstasie]

Norway did around 1 or 2 dollars for each and every citizen (5million) as an inflation hedge.

I looked into that claim. They didn't invest in BTC. Their sovereign wealth fund has a stake in Microstrategy, and looking at the timing of the reports, I believe they were invested in Microstrategy before they ever bought BTC. So it's just a coincidence really.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/worlds-largest-sovereign-wealth-fund-indirectly-holds-almost-600-bitcoin

[Husires]

The search for diversification of the city's investment portfolio does not mean that investors will deposit a lot of money because you can pay in bitcoin.
I don't think you will pay your taxes in Bitcoin, knowing that its value will increase.
Why are they thinking about an easy solution instead of looking for ways to attract capital by reducing taxes or increasing investments in those activities?

what will happen if “It's only going to go up,”  not happen?

[1l1l11ll1l]

Diversifying your investment portfolio is a great idea. 

Investing in stocks and bonds is currently quite risky.  After all, the economic situation in the United States and in the world is not very good.  Bank deposit accounts offer zero interest rates.  At the same time, keeping funds in commercial banks is also risky.  Therefore, it makes sense to keep part of the investment portfolio in Bitcoin and gold bars. 

Therefore, the proposals of the Mayor of Miami seem absolutely reasonable. 

The main thing is that the acquisition of Bitcoins with government money does not contradict US law.

I guess just for now it becomes more risky to keep money in the bank. actually according to my current understanding, the safest investment is the gold bar, because its value may not be able to decrease on a significant scale. and I think it's just a matter of time before governments in other regions will announce their interest in bitcoin, when bitcoin is getting known and gaining trust as a good investment, that's where bitcoin starts to become a trusted investment

[Mauser]

public officials in control of government treasuries turning into bitcoin bulls? we're obviously entering a new era! is this just the beginning---next stop, central banks?

if they follow through, would this be the first direct investment of government funds into bitcoin?

This is great news in my opinion, more investors in the bitcoin market mean higher prices in the future. I didn't really read any news yet of governments in the western world swichting into cryptos. This might be the first investment of a government fund in bitcoins.

[Kasabus]

Diversifying your investment portfolio is a great idea.  

Investing in stocks and bonds is currently quite risky.  After all, the economic situation in the United States and in the world is not very good.  Bank deposit accounts offer zero interest rates.  At the same time, keeping funds in commercial banks is also risky.  Therefore, it makes sense to keep part of the investment portfolio in Bitcoin and gold bars.  

Therefore, the proposals of the Mayor of Miami seem absolutely reasonable.  

The main thing is that the acquisition of Bitcoins with government money does not contradict US law.

I guess just for now it becomes more risky to keep money in the bank. actually according to my current understanding, the safest investment is the gold bar, because its value may not be able to decrease on a significant scale. and I think it's just a matter of time before governments in other regions will announce their interest in bitcoin, when bitcoin is getting known and gaining trust as a good investment, that's where bitcoin starts to become a trusted investment

Even before bitcoin was still in its early stage, we have made profits already. This time, investing in bitcoin is of high risk because of its expensive price but we all know that its highly volatile so more likely, the price will still go down. And that would be the perfect time for Miami mayor to start investing in bitcoin especially that he will use public funds. The profit is definitely bigger if you buy bitcoin with a cheap price. I also think Suarez has studied this bitcoin investment deeply before he propose it to his citizens and for that, he's already aware of its do's and dont's and its advantages and disadvantages.

[Jating]

Not the first US state though to accept bitcoin as tax payment, Ohio becomes the first state to accept bitcoin for tax payments, although they have change tune in less than a year, Ohio businesses can no longer use Bitcoin to pay taxes – but will they care?
But I wouldn't say that this is a bullish, but it is a welcoming development that could turn into a bullish signal if other states are going to follow what Miami is considering right now. And who knows this could be the norm in the next 5-10 years with bitcoin become a reserve asset for state government.

[arallmuus]

I don't think you will pay your taxes in Bitcoin, knowing that its value will increase.

Some people might.

Why do the city council need to make investments? And normally when there is a need for government authorities to invest, they usually purchase low-risk assets such as treasury bonds or bullion.

Purchasing low risk assets is also considered as investment and also money doesnt grow on trees so they need to secure alot way to get more money in. Some might invest in various stocks while this mayor choose bitcoin instead and I dont see anything wrong with that

If the story is true, then there is going to be a lot of opposition against this move, in pouring the money in to a highly volatile asset.

Of course there will be but if you look at the chart , bitcoin is one of the most profitable assets to invest in over the last 8 years. If they are in for long term which I think they do, then its not really volatile