New York Mayoral Candidates Turn to Crypto for Votes

[Leviathan.007]

New York City mayoral candidates have turned to cryptocurrencies as part of their campaign promises.
Republican candidate Curtis Silwa wrote on Twitter yesterday: "As mayor of New York City, I will make New York the Crypto-friendly city in the country. "Property taxes, fines, and commissions will be payable with cryptocurrencies."
“We will open more crypto ATMs and incentivize businesses to accept crypto. We must modernize our economy and make it accessible for all,” he added.
Silwa’s tweet, which featured graphics from Dogecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Ripple ATMs, is not the first time a New York City mayoral candidate has used cryptocurrencies to the campaign.
New York Democratic nominee Eric Adams has vowed to make New York City the "center of bitcoin."
“We’re going to bring business here. We’re going to become the center of life science, the center of cybersecurity, the center of self-driving cars, drones, the center of Bitcoins,” Adams said at a campaign watch party earlier in the summer.
In Adams' case, the commitment to advocacy seems to be part of a broader effort to modernize the city and embrace new technologies, not just to promote cryptocurrencies.
Andrew Yang, a mayoral candidate and former Democratic presidential candidate, is another example. "As the mayor of New York City, I will invest in turning the city into a hub for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies," he said in February.

Source: https://decrypt.co/80023/new-york-mayoral-candidates-turn-crypto-votes

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[Gyfts]

Andrew Yang was another candidate for New York mayor, he also supported crypto and was blown out of the water, and that was a democratic candidate with some name recognition. This guy is a republican and has precisely a zero chance of going anywhere. Voters don't understand nor care about crypto, they probably never will. Politics is a game of pandering.

[alpamar99]

this is like a new opportunity for candidates to get votes because they realize that there are now many crypto lovers and holders and this is very possible for them to do a maneuver to attract votes from here.
but again they say like this it doesn't mean they care about crypto, this is just an initial promise to attract hearts and votes to get lots of votes apart from that everything returns to politics using all means to win elections.
apart from that on the one hand this is an effective way to attract sympathizers and when the win can be realized properly (not just a promise) this will be quite good because apart from NYC there is Miami which until now the mayor is still active in supporting crypto.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

"Property taxes, fines, and commissions will be payable with cryptocurrencies."
“We will open more crypto ATMs and incentivize businesses to accept crypto. We must modernize our economy and make it accessible for all,” he added.

Wow.  I'm not sure if I'd want to pay the government with crypto for anything, but in general this guy seems very pro-crypto--and that's a good thing.  Maybe then Binance can take NY off its restricted list, as well as all the other services that sell crypto for fiat that aren't allowed to operate in the state.  I'm still not sure why that is, but I know it's been a long-standing problem.

If only other politicians made statements like this as part of their platform.  Unfortunately, I think these types of statements are going to be limited to republicans.  Democrats are for bigger government, more taxes, more regulation, and are less likely to take a pro-crypto stance.

Andrew Yang was another candidate for New York mayor, he also supported crypto and was blown out of the water, and that was a democratic candidate with some name recognition. This guy is a republican and has precisely a zero chance of going anywhere. Voters don't understand nor care about crypto, they probably never will.

Interesting.  I do remember Yang but didn't remember his party (and I'm surprised to learn that he's a democrat).  You're probably right about a republican having no chance of getting elected as governor of NY.  We can only hope.

[passwordnow]

They know that there are a lot of crypto folks that are living in New York. But that will work? we don't know, in every campaign, they have to convince everyone that's part of their city to get their votes. And that's why every sector that they think that has a large number of vote, they should feel that they're with them. It's just another political style of campaigning and you'll see most of them as part of those sectors, organizations and other social parties.

[coupable]

They know that there are a lot of crypto folks that are living in New York. But that will work? we don't know, in every campaign, they have to convince everyone that's part of their city to get their votes. And that's why every sector that they think that has a large number of vote, they should feel that they're with them. It's just another political style of campaigning and you'll see most of them as part of those sectors, organizations and other social parties.

I agree with you that it's just another political style of campaigning. We all know restrictions for US citizens in the crypto ecosystem despite the US has the largest adoption for cryptocurrencies since early days of bitcoin.
I may believe him or whoever if he promises to integrate blockchain technology in some economy/monetary fields. I remember an independant candidate from the US presidential election who also propised voters to get into crypto if he would win but we didn't here that he has a decent numbers of votes due to his promises.
NYC citizens who are interested in the cryptocurrencies would be sure that this candidate is selling them the illusion toward their votes, and ignorant people don't even know about the existence of bitcoin .

[CaVO32]

They know that there are a lot of crypto folks that are living in New York. But that will work? we don't know, in every campaign, they have to convince everyone that's part of their city to get their votes. And that's why every sector that they think that has a large number of vote, they should feel that they're with them. It's just another political style of campaigning and you'll see most of them as part of those sectors, organizations and other social parties.

I agree with you that it's just another political style of campaigning. We all know restrictions for US citizens in the crypto ecosystem despite the US has the largest adoption for cryptocurrencies since early days of bitcoin.
I may believe him or whoever if he promises to integrate blockchain technology in some economy/monetary fields. I remember an independant candidate from the US presidential election who also propised voters to get into crypto if he would win but we didn't here that he has a decent numbers of votes due to his promises.
NYC citizens who are interested in the cryptocurrencies would be sure that this candidate is selling them the illusion toward their votes, and ignorant people don't even know about the existence of bitcoin .

Also, I am thinking that maybe it is also one way to attract crypto donators to them. With crypto transactions, no one will know how much is donated to their campaign. Because they can hide it by not disclosing those funds. But anyway, looking at the bigger picture, politicians promoting a crypto-friendly environment is always welcome. Because the more adoption that we have, the demand will further increase and so its price in the market.

[agustina2]

If he was able to survey that the New York community mostly uses crypto, that's a big plus factor for people to notice him.

For a crypto-friendly country, mentioning crypto by a big personality, like government officials or someone related to it, is always a big deal be it positive or negative. But for me, mentioning crypto just to make sounds is just a common part of propaganda when a person is running for a government position.

A unique way though compare to the usual election jingle and advertisement we always see every campaign period.

[palle11]

Until he gets in and do the job of going through the legislation to make the use of bitcoin and other cryptocreency legal then we won't take it seriously. It is a positive vibe to win the population until is made law as we see El Salvador. It needs legislative process just like the abortion bill that was signed info law in Texas, it will be a good news if New York adopts it. This will grow even dogecoin as mentioned.

[Coyster]

I know it's pretty difficult to believe whatsoever politicians say, worse even when they start making promises using a decentralized network that they cannot control, but it doesn't really matter here and I'm taking the positive side of this news, I see it as a big news that politicians are trying to convince people to vote for them by using cryptocurrency, it means Bitcoin is really getting more and more popular and it is only that way that mass adoption can become possible, another thing is that even with government regulations and bans, governments are well and fully aware of the immense positive role Bitcoin plays in the society and are just being hostile for their own selfish reason, which is their inability to control the network.

[harizen]

For a change, it's a different way to catch the attention of the people especially if New York is full of crypto geeks and there are stores established that accept crypto as a payment method.

With that, people there will think that crypto is getting attention from the officials and wants to make it good.

I don't see anything wrong there. But as always in every election, expect that some "promises are made to be broken" if you know what I mean.

[dothebeats]

People don’t care about crypto at this time of the pandemic. All they want is someone who will sway them into believing that there is still hope in politics. While there may be some groups of people wanting to get their crypto voices heard on politics, the majority’s interest isn’t really resting on cryptocurrencies alone. Take for example, Andrew Yang. The dude is obviously a pro-crypto politician with democratic leanings and an overall favorite to win, but still ended up losing badly.

I’d like to see what else Curtis Sliwa has to offer to New York. The city is plagued with crimes and unemployment, and I don’t think marketing himself as another crypto dude without tackling about the main issues of the city will help his political run.

[Darker45]

Well, every vote counts. There might be more than a handful crypto supporters out there whose votes are still untapped. These candidates are trying to grab this particular demographic. Well, good luck to them.

The attention of crypto supporters might have been caught by these politicians' statements. They might end up getting the support of these voters. But then this area is definitely not the only thing that matters. There are definitely other factors whose priority comes before crypto but then it probably counts to several voters that their leader is future-looking.

[zanezane]

I don't know the guy but I feel like this candidate isn't going to win, not because of a fair fight but because some companies that's going to be affected by crypto directly will be  using every connection that they have for this candidate to not win. That's just my hunch though because I know how politics work even just a little.

[Poker Player]

Andrew Yang was another candidate for New York mayor, he also supported crypto and was blown out of the water, and that was a democratic candidate with some name recognition. This guy is a republican and has precisely a zero chance of going anywhere. Voters don't understand nor care about crypto, they probably never will. Politics is a game of pandering.

Well, it is true that today the crypto issue does not move a mass of voters as other issues can do, but what I find interesting is the trend. It seems to me that we are going to see more and more politicians talking about measures favorable to cryptocurrencies in their election campaigns, and that is positive for the normalization and mass adoption of Bitcoin.

[uneng]

I'm surprised every candidates are trying to farm some votes with bitcoin. It doesn't even look that same bitcoin hated by the establishment anymore. Now every politicians want to be crypto friendly and that is a reason to be concerned, because politicians aren't to be trusted and if they are in love with bitcoin it's because there is a shady reason for that. Soon we will see.

Actually they would be more helpful to crypto universe by just not interfering on it. Let the businesses and independent individuals incentivize the usage of bitcoin. Since the beginning it's working this way without any "help" from politicians or governments and it has been a great success.

“We will open more crypto ATMs and incentivize businesses to accept crypto. We must modernize our economy and make it accessible for all,” he added.

I don't understand the obssession people have for ATMs since personal smartphones already fullfil the function of ATMs anywhere. All you need is internet connection and an account in a crypto app.

[bittraffic]

It does sound like people in New York are all crypto users that they thought the majority are going to vote for them upon having those promises.  But then anyway, people will be very curious about cryptocurrency because of these mayors.

Both of them already promise the same development for the city so whichever wins, there will be someone to make Bitcoin known to the people.

[_Miracle]

"Property taxes, fines, and commissions will be payable with cryptocurrencies."
“We will open more crypto ATMs and incentivize businesses to accept crypto. We must modernize our economy and make it accessible for all,” he added.

Wow.  I'm not sure if I'd want to pay the government with crypto for anything, but in general this guy seems very pro-crypto--and that's a good thing.  Maybe then Binance can take NY off its restricted list, as well as all the other services that sell crypto for fiat that aren't allowed to operate in the state.  I'm still not sure why that is, but I know it's been a long-standing problem.

If only other politicians made statements like this as part of their platform.  Unfortunately, I think these types of statements are going to be limited to republicans.  Democrats are for bigger government, more taxes, more regulation, and are less likely to take a pro-crypto stance.

Andrew Yang was another candidate for New York mayor, he also supported crypto and was blown out of the water, and that was a democratic candidate with some name recognition. This guy is a republican and has precisely a zero chance of going anywhere. Voters don't understand nor care about crypto, they probably never will.

Interesting.  I do remember Yang but didn't remember his party (and I'm surprised to learn that he's a democrat).  You're probably right about a republican having no chance of getting elected as governor of NY.  We can only hope.

Colorado's governor Jared Polis is one of the few politicians that I actually follow, mainly for his really good questions when they were first having the bitcoin/ cryptocurrency discussions.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis wants his state to be the first to accept cryptocurrencies for taxes
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-acceptance-for-taxes-colorado-governor-jared-polis-state-accept-2021-5

Gov. Polis signs Colorado's first blockchain-related bill into law
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2019/03/07/colorado-first-blockchain-related-law.html


I am an appreciator of Andrew Yang, something like Democracy Dollars would be an improvement to our current political system ---> yes I can immediately see a few ways it could be gamed but...

What would it potentially be like if money was out of the equation for candidates?


H.R.1572 - Democracy Dollars Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1572

https://democracydollarsatx.org/

"A similar plan was put forward by the 2020 presidential campaign of Andrew Yang. The campaign's "Democracy Dollars" would have given each registered voter $100 to put towards the political campaign of their choice annually."

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

It does sound like people in New York are all crypto users that they thought the majority are going to vote for them upon having those promises.  But then anyway, people will be very curious about cryptocurrency because of these mayors.

Both of them already promise the same development for the city so whichever wins, there will be someone to make Bitcoin known to the people.

That's very tunnel vision of the citizens of New York City to only care about one thing to improve in their city, pretty sure that those promises won't come to fruition because some of the regulation might be problematic to become official. It's good that there's a tie in this one, it's only a matter of who is the one that is sincere and will put people first.

[acroman08]

He would be more successful securing votes from the poor or the homeless people than securing votes from crypto enthusiast. he would get more supporters talking about fixing far more important issues.