Miami Will Start Giving Some of Its Residents Free Bitcoin: Mayor Suarez (decrypt.co) 29
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has again raised the stakes as to which city in the U.S. will become the country's crypto hub. From a report: Suarez announced today on CoinDesk TV that the city would be staking (i.e. locking up cryptocurrencies to earn yield) a large portion of its native cryptocurrency, MiamiCoin, to earn yield in Bitcoin. What's more, he said Miami will be "the first city in America to give a Bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents." Previously, only holders of MiamiCoin could earn any kind of crypto return, be it STX, the native cryptocurrency for the Stacks protocol on which MiamiCoin is built, or Bitcoin. Now, according to today's announcement, residents will be given a Bitcoin wallet and receive free BTC regardless of whether they hold MiamiCoin or not.
Somehow the government doing this (Score:3)
"to give a Bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents" and
"only holders of MiamiCoin could earn any kind of crypto return" and
"residents will be given a Bitcoin wallet and receive free BTC regardless of whether they hold MiamiCoin or not"
not sure even the elected officials and the city bureaucrats know how this will work. But then I am sure they will just contract out all the management functions.
mmmm the company that sold the concept to these dweebs will probably be the only ones making money here.
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds scammy since the city could just hold coin and profit off the proceeds. No, it would rather build out the expensive infrastructure to distribute and secure Bitcoin wallets for all resident. Why not hold coin, profit off the proceeds and reduce taxes? Or pay residents in cash when you earn enough?
Ahem... (Score:4, Insightful)
"the first city in America to give a Bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents."
So the government is going to hand out money to residents just for being residents?
Sounds an awful lot like the GOP's dreaded "socialism" to me. Right there in their back yard.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It sounds more like UBI idiocy.
But really though, a government able to "give" money away is collecting too much in taxes in the first place.
Re: (Score:3)
But really though, a government able to "give" money away is collecting too much in taxes in the first place.
This, or it slashed some services for which resident have been paying.
Re: (Score:1)
That's nothing. Here's a video pointing out the evil hypocrisy of republicans... the reveal is at the end and it's a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
More climate blues (Score:2)
For a state who is heavily vulnerable to climate changes, in terms of rising sea levels and sink holes, they really donâ(TM)t seem to care. Iâ(TM)d argue they are a state with a very short term view on their future. Bitcoin mining isnâ(TM)t going to help, unless they are just buying votes.
Re: (Score:3)
shame on you for even suggesting that government at any level would stoop so low as using handouts (of any stripe) as a vote gathering ploy.
Re: (Score:3)
Florida man hastens Florida's submersion with cryptocurrency scheme, news at 11.
What happens when the yield goes negative? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: What happens when the yield goes negative? (Score:2)
You just keep mining bitcoin until that coal pit reaches the centre of the earth?
Re: (Score:2)
No, you keep going until you reach the other side!
China syndrome!
Shame... (Score:2)
*and by shame, I don't mean "Shame on them for not doing this sooner", just shame that it didn't and we don't get to see what would happen if a city turned a bunch of their citizens into bitcoin millionaires. That would have been pretty damn interesting.
Re: (Score:2)
Shame we didn't start handing out commoditized mortgage backed securities earlier when that was growing fast, the fallout from that collapse would have been interesting.
Also bitcoin millionaire is like any stock millionaire - once you start cashing it it so that you can actually buy stuff the price will drop. And if you've got a large number of less-than-knowledgeable holders of investment instruments you're likely to see a run on the banks (or exchanges in this case), and then it's disaster when they can'
Re: (Score:2)
And yea, I'd be glad if someone GAVE me mortgage backed securities. They crashed, but most did not to zero and you could have flipped them if you wanted right away. As for being "I am absolutely certain that the residents of Miami would be vastly happier if that bitcoin/miamicoin was converted to actual Dollars before being handed out." If it was handed out 10 years ago, they would probably be about as happy as the guy who ended up paying for a pizza wit
So... (Score:3)
Citizens pay taxes so the Government can obtain bitcoins and then give these bitcoins to the citizens, right?
Yeah "Some" (Score:2)
The Mayor's family members, cronies and campaign donors, with maybe a few random people to provide deniability.
Re: (Score:2)
A corrupt Cuban refugee? Why yes, the whole family is that too. Sounds like Florida.
Geographical Hub, Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
which city in the U.S. will become the country's crypto hub
Why would cryptocurrency, which is mostly decentralized and purely electronic, need a geographical hub?
Re: (Score:2)
Governments adopting crypto... (Score:2)
...should be deeply concerning for anybody who supports crypto.
Seems like when a struggling body reaches for something, it's not because it's a well-considered choice. It's a hail mary. All of the problems that made them fail previously are still there, and there's no reason to think it's a lifeline.
So when they inevitably fail with it, people point and say, "See? Crypto is dumb."
Okay... I think crypto IS dumb... but I'm not willing to use Venezuela as proof of it.
All will be back in fiat (Score:1)
Two Questions... (Score:2)
1. Dafuq is that porridge of gibberish supposed to mean? It sounds HIGHLY suspiciously like an intentionally over-complicated obfuscation of a scheme. A racket.
2. How the fuck does city government get involved in speculative investment schemes that do not involve tangible city property? The city commission voted for and authorized gambling with tax-payer dollars while so many budget deficits were at hand?
https://www.miamiherald.com/ne... [miamiherald.com]
I guess it boils down to only one question: What the actual fuck?