Miami plans to unveil a cryptocurrency in August that officials say will help the city generate revenue and expand its economy.
Thirty percent of the revenue generated from the new digital currency, MiamiCoin, could be used to fund city initiatives, the Miami Herald reported last week.
“The City of Miami could end up earning millions of dollars as a result of the popularity of MiamiCoin, because obviously Miami has now become…the bitcoin capital of the world,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told Fox Business Tuesday.
“And we’re focusing on differentiating our economy by creating the new wave of technological products that will incentivize people to move to Miami and be part of our tech ecosystem,” he added.
City officials are working with CityCoins, a company that is designing cryptocurrency for municipalities, to launch the the new digital token. The Miami-specific currency will be available for digital “mining” on August 3, according to the company, and will be the first of its kind to go to market.
Mining is the process of generating new cryptocurrency and maintaining the digital ledger of cryptocurrency transactions.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
CityCoins said that MiamiCoin will provide an “ongoing crypto revenue stream for the city” that could be put towards a variety of investments.
“The city of Miami can elect to use its growing crypto treasury to benefit the city and its constituents — think new public spaces, improvements to infrastructure, hosting city events, recruiting startups, and more,” CityCoins said in a statement.
Suarez has sought to make Miami a center for cryptocurrency. In June, he encouraged bitcoin miners in China facing opposition from Chinese officials to move to Miami, and touted the city’s supply cheap nuclear energy, which can be harnessed for cryptocurrency mining.
“We want to make sure that our city has an opportunity to compete,” Suarez told CNBC.
“We’re talking to a lot of companies and just telling them, ‘Hey, we want you to be here,'” he said.
CityCoins noted that tech founders have relocated to the city “en masse”
“Miami has long been a center of culture and innovation in the U.S., and over the last year the city has increasingly taken center stage as a tech and crypto startup city due to technologically progressive leadership,” the company said via its website on July 14.
“The city’s leadership is embracing crypto and offering support for the tech industry as a whole,” it added.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to Newsweek’s request for comment on this story.
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