New York City Mayor Criticizes Former Governor's Proposal to Promote Industry-Friendly Policies for encryption

On June 25, as residents of New York City prepared to participate in the Democratic primary, Mayor Eric Adams criticized Democratic mayoral candidate and former governor Andrew Cuomo. On Tuesday, at the Permissionless conference held in Brooklyn, Adams said that during Cuomo's tenure as governor, the state of New York "dismantled and destroyed this industry," calling the former governor's approach to digital assets "wrong" and "misleading."

Adams is currently running for re-election as an independent candidate. He plans to establish a city council task force to promote cryptocurrency-related policies in the state government, while 'building a pipeline' to pay municipal service fees with cryptocurrency and introducing digital asset education in schools.

Adams said, "I think the number of federal bills passed on this issue in the first 120 days is impressive." He is obviously referring to Congress pushing legislation on payment stablecoins and crypto market structure, "and now you can see cities and states also responding, catching up with this trend."

Adams, who became well-known in the crypto industry for announcing that he would receive his first three paychecks as mayor in Bitcoin, said he still holds those funds. He is likely to face Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in the November election, who also proposed cryptocurrency-friendly policies during his 2021 campaign. In addition to establishing a dedicated task force and promoting education reform, Adams has been advocating for the issuance of municipal bonds in New York City that support Bitcoin.