NYC's mayor invests first paycheck in cryptocurrency
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, plans to convert his first paycheck this week into two cryptocurrencies, which he has been hyping as a potential economic engine for the city.
The Democrat's office announced Thursday that Adams' first salary payment will be deposited with Coinbase, an online platform used for buying cryptocurrency, and then converted into Ethereum and Bitcoin.
“New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” Adams said in a statement. “Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.”
The city noted in its news release that federal labor rules bar the city from paying employees in cryptocurrency, but that any worker paid in U.S. dollars can use an exchange to buy cryptocurrency.
Adams’ use of his public office to promote the crypto industry drew criticism from at least one upstate New York environmental group, Seneca Lake Guardian, which noted that creating and managing cryptocurrency can consume enormous amounts of energy, often produced by power plants that contribute to climate change.
“Mayor Adams is dead wrong and his ignorance could cost New Yorkers millions of dollars in energy bills while killing local economies, poisoning our water and filling our air with deadly C02 emissions,” the group said in a statement.
State Attorney General Letitia James has investigated cryptocurrency trading platforms and warned last year that investors “should proceed with extreme caution when investing in virtual currencies.”
“Cryptocurrencies are high-risk, unstable investments that could result in devastating losses just as quickly as they can provide gains,” James...
