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The city of Miami has generated $5 million from its new cryptocurrency in just over a month. Now, commissioners just have to decide how to spend it.
“We’re going to have conversations with the commission as more money is generated of what is the most effective means of using those funds,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the Miami Herald. “It’s a very, very new technology. We want to be safe. We’ve done significant due diligence, but we want to be abundantly careful.”
The funds are a result of CityCoins’ first, and so far only, token, MiamiCoin. CityCoin is a cryptocurrency developer that works with cities to create tokens that individuals can mine, stack, borrow and lend.
MiamiCoin is mined by forwarding the Stacks token, $STX, to the MiamiCoin smart contract contract. When tokens are successfully mined, 30% of $STX forwarded by miners to the Stacks protocol goes into a wallet reserved for Maimi.
The remaining 70% is reserved for miners to distribute or stack for rewards, which come in the form of $STX or bitcoin.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKcoin is currently the only platform offering MiamiCoin trading
The project was first launched in August and while Miami does not officially endorse the coin, commissioners voted to accept the funds in the reserved wallet.
“I think that it’s a very low-cost experiment to gain public support and momentum for a great cause,” said David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital.
Suarez, who has long expressed a positive view on cryptocurrencies, is also interested in expanding mining opportunities in South Florida. He has been floating thoughts about clean energy mining initiatives, including those powered by solar or nuclear energy, in recent weeks to promote his plans for Miami to become America’s hub for bitcoin and crypto.
When asked if he expects many other cities to follow suit with a token anytime soon, Tawil was skeptical.
“Unlikely, until Miami has notched some measurement of success. Maybe a few other cities that have vocally embraced crypto. Some places in Wyoming,” he said. “But, I would expect that Miami will be unique in its full-throated support for crypto generally for some time.”
A SanFranciscoCoin is coming soon, according to CityCoins’ website. It is unclear when it may launch or if officials in the California city will accept funds the same way as Miami.
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