Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks during a press conference at City Hall to announce an initiative to reduce homelessness on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022.
dsantiago@miamiherald.com
With the price of a Miami-branded digital currency dipping to its lowest point since it launched in August, America’s crypto mayor conceded Friday that grand visions for funding municipal government with MiamiCoin might never happen.
“I don’t know whether it’s going to work or not,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the Miami Herald. “Innovation doesn’t always work.”
The sober comments from the normally bullish Suarez — who has suggested that Miami could become so flush with crypto cash proceeds that taxes could disappear — came with MiamiCoin, the city-branded cryptocurrency, continuing a steady decline.
As of late Thursday, the price of MiamiCoin dipped to about four tenths of a cent. That’s six hundredths of a cent less than the price of the token when it debuted in late August. The price has now fallen 92.76% from its all-time high of about six cents a coin.
Miami was the first city in the U.S. to embrace the idea of a city-branded currency, and Suarez, as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has encouraged other mayors to sign onto a “crypto compact.” MiamiCoin was not created by the city of Miami, but Suarez has promoted it as a boon for the city.
In November, another city-branded coin launched called NYCCoin. One NYCCoin is worth about two tenths of a cent after dipping in recent weeks.
Despite the decline of MiamiCoin, Miami has already benefited financially. Recently, the city accepted a cash gift of $5.25 million, dollars derived from a percentage of the value generated by the process that yields the city-branded token.
But that process has drawn criticism from an urban technology researcher who served on the transition team for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, another crypto enthusiast. Mike Bloomberg, who has experience working in local government, told the Herald that the process for producing MiamiCoin tokens was designed poorly, in part, because it has no utility for people who own it.
“You don’t start with creating a solution, and then finding a problem for it,” said Bloomberg, a relative of the former New York mayor.
MiamiCoin and NYCCoin are two active projects by CityCoins, an initiative organizers have promoted as a way to raise funds for municipal projects by generating demand for city-specific digital tokens. Miami is the only city to receive a cash gift as a result of MiamiCoin activity.
MiamiCoin cannot be used to purchase goods or services, so it functions as a way to store value. Currently, MiamiCoin can be bought and sold on only one cryptocurrency exchange, Okcoin, which was founded in China.
Bloomberg said it was “sad” to see Suarez promoting the benefits of MiamiCoin when people who invest in it could be losing money because of things Suarez has said about the token. Bloomberg said it would be helpful for financial regulators to weigh in on activity related to CityCoins and local governments.
“Ultimately, we would love for regulators to get involved and provide some clarity at the state and federal level,” he said.
On Friday, Suarez said he “doesn’t obsess over price” when it comes to crypto. He said he doesn’t treat it like trading stocks or some other form of speculative investment, and said he’d rather focus on the underlying blockchain technology and its potential to change the way currency is viewed by average people and the government.
The mayor said he still believes MiamiCoin could become a viable cryptocurrency, even though it currently has no practical use. Without stating specifics, he hinted his office has been working on potential partnerships that could create utility for MiamiCoin.
As for whether people should buy MiamiCoin, Suarez said it wouldn’t be appropriate to weigh in.
“I’m not going to get into that. That’s not something an elected official should be doing,” he said. “I cannot give people investment advice.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 6:03 PM.
Joey Flechas covers government and public affairs in the city of Miami for the Herald, from votes at City Hall to neighborhood news. He won a Sunshine State award for revealing a Miami Beach political candidate’s ties to an illegal campaign donation. He graduated from the University of Florida.
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