Miami Leading in the Crypto Race…This Time, With its Own City-Based Coin
Earlier this year, Mayor Suarez of Miami, Florida stated that he intended to make Miami a major hub for technology and cryptocurrency. His progressive leadership has already established Miami as a rising hot-spot that is embracing blockchain technology and cryptocurrency and supporting the tech industry overall. Miami has long been viewed as a “center of culture and innovation in the U.S.” and over the last year, Suarez has promoted efforts to make Miami the “Bitcoin Capital of the World.” Suarez encouraged Miami to host the largest Bitcoin conference to date, Bitcoin 2021, in June and has invited Chinese miners to escape regulation in China by relocating to Miami and resuming their operations there.
This past summer, Mayor Suarez announced that the city of Miami was launching its own cryptocurrency called MiamiCoin (MIA). The coin officially launched on August 3, 2021. The cryptocurrency will allow anyone to invest in Miami, by simply buying the coin. The money that is raised from selling MiamiCoin will be used to fund city-based projects and events. As more coins are mined, the platform allocates a portion to be deposited in a local government wallet to use for infrastructure developments and projects. MiamiCoin is available to buy, sell, or trade on the cryptocurrency platform Okcoin. MiamiCoin is the first CityCoin released. CityCoins is a project that works with local governments and allows people to invest in a city through the purchase of its token. Those who invest are rewarded passively in Bitcoin or Stacks, which is the native cryptocurrency of the eponymous protocol. By owning MiamiCoin, investors will be able to passively earn Bitcoin since the coin is built on Stacks, which is a cryptocurrency project that allows users to lock up their tokens and earn rewards. Suarez states, “It’s like a Bitcoin and it’s on the blockchain protocol, so whenever that coin is mined, a percentage of the coin by virtue of the programming goes to the City of Miami.” Anyone can buy, sell, or trade the coin and participate in MiamiCoin mining and stacking, simply by downloading the stacks web wallet and purchasing stacks (STX) from an exchange. Essentially, there are no hardware requirements for mining MiamiCoins and to mint new MiamiCoin tokens one needs to transfer STX tokens to MiamiCoin’s smart contract for a given block.
Miami city officials believe that the city will benefit from MiamiCoin as it will help generate revenue for different city-based projects and initiatives. Suarez states in an interview with Fox Business, “the city of Miami could end up earning millions of dollars as a result of the popularity of MiamiCoin…” Mr. Suarez adds that the city, through the coin, could differentiate its economy by embracing this technology. The revenue generated would not only help fund projects, but also help combat homelessness and fund the police force.
MiamiCoin has infinite potential, and other cities are taking notice of it. MiamiCoin is the first CityCoin to launch and go live; other cities like San Francisco, are planning to launch its own city coin soon. Many citizens and leaders of varying cities are considering their own city-based coin in the near future for its benefits. For example, many believe that New York City should have its own coin and have even developed a hypothetical prospective plan for implementation and use. The hypothetical plan essentially allows NYC coins to be redeemable towards civil services within the city and its value would be derived from property values. In the plan it states that, “One NYCToken, for example, could be made equal to the market value of 1 square centimeter of New York real estate. At a current cost per square foot of say $1,500, that works out to about $1.60 per token. The city maintains an up-to-date ledger of all property sales, and as the average value of property changes, the value of the NYCToken rises or falls. The number of NYCTokens in circulation corresponds exactly to the total covered area of the city and more tokens will be brought into circulation if and only if the city’s real estate area increases through vertical or horizontal development. Increases in token price represent an increase in real estate value, which can be considered a weak proxy for standard of living, and increases in token number represent city growth. By buying tokens citizens get the opportunity to invest their surplus income in an asset that is a store of value, an investment with the potential for real appreciation, and a currency that can be used to buy urban services.” In this way, the prospect of tokens rising in value will lead many individuals and institutions to invest.
City-based coins have the potential to generate millions of dollars in revenue for cities. Miami, as a major hub for technology and cryptocurrency, is leading the race with its new MiamiCoin. It’s too early to estimate the coin’s performance, but time should tell. Until then, #ToTheMoon
Disclaimer: cryptocurrencies are risky and volatile investments. These comments above should not be perceived as investment advice.
References:
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/city-of-miami-unveils-its-own-cryptocurrency-miamicoin-2021-08-05
https://nautil.us/issue/57/communities/why-new-york-city-needs-its-own-cryptocurrency
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/miami-launches-its-own-cryptocurrency-miamicoin/
https://decrypt.co/77487/miami-cryptocurrency-miamicoin-launch-bitcoin-rewards
Jordana Cohen, Writer and Associate, Alpha Sigma Capital
Jordana joined Alpha Sigma Capital in November 2020 as writer and associate. Jordana graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University with a business major in finance and a minor in Spanish. In addition to her academic accomplishments, she has substantive experience in management and marketing endeavors through her establishment of several start-up events to fundraise for pediatric cancer research. Alpha Sigma Capital is a pioneering digital asset fund that invests in growth companies, private and public equity, mergers and acquisitions, and special situations. Alpha Sigma Capital believes in a fundamental research approach for investing and supporting the blockchain economy; and, it is rigorous in determining the value of such organizations.
