Miami To Issue Free Bitcoin To Residents, But What Exactly Is The Ultimate Plan?

Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez has again raised the bars regarding which city in the U.S. is going to become the country’s crypto hub.

As U.S Cities Race To Become The Country’s Crypto Hub

Earlier today, Suarez made an announcement on CoinDesk TV saying that the city would be staking a large portion of its native cryptocurrency, the MiamiCoin, in order to earn yield in Bitcoin. The interesting part is that he also said Miami will be giving out the free Bitcoin yield to its residents, thereby making it the first American city to do so.

Before now, only holders of MiamiCoin had the privilege of earning any kind of crypto return ( either STX — the native crypto for the Stacks protocol on which MiamiCoin is built, or Bitcoin. But now, going by today’s announcement, residents can now earn free BTC regardless of whether they hold MiamiCoin or not.

Miami Leading The Charge Among Crypto-friendly Cities In The U.S.

MiamiCoin has generated no less than $21 million in revenue for Miami ever since its launch on August 3, 2021, according to Suarez. The coin offers residents the unique opportunity to invest in various projects and infrastructure for the city. Although all funds received in exchange for the crypto have always been diverted to the city’s treasury, but now, the city is ready to give back free Bitcoin to its residents, directly from the yield.

Meanwhile, other American cities like New York City and Austin are closely following in the steps of Miami with similar ventures. Recall that newly elected New York Mayor Eric Adams announced 2 days ago, that the city is also getting its own coin.

CityCoins is the crypto project that is providing the technical backing for these projects. CityCoins is built on Stacks, another protocol that allows for smart contracts on the Bitcoin network.

The Ultimate Plan Is Bitcoin Adoption

During the announcement, Mayor Suarez did express his reservations about the challenges posed by this project. He claims that firstly, determining who gets a digital wallet could be a problem as he wasn’t sure if it will be only those who voted in the city, or taxpayers and citizens with a verifiable address that would get the wallet. Of course, these are legitimate concerns if fraudsters looking to just move to Miami for the sake of getting free Bitcoin, are to be stopped in their tracks.

For now, there’s no word regarding which exchanges are in the running to service the project, but according to Suarez, the ultimate goal of the project is to get Bitcoin into the hands of more and more people, even as he hopes to increase the utility of Bitcoin.