Miami Mayor Suarez Still Takes Bitcoin Salary Despite Crypto Winter

Key Insights:

• Miami City Mayor Francis Suarez continues to receive a bitcoin (BTC) salary despite the bitcoin reversal to sub-$30,000.
• Mayor Suarez first announced plans to receive a bitcoin salary in 2021 as part of his election campaign.
• Since announcing a bitcoin salary, bitcoin has struck an all-time high of $68,979 before tumbling to a 2022 low of $25,836.

It has been a particularly bearish 2022, with bitcoin (BTC) registering a record eight consecutive weekly losses and facing the prospects of a ninth. Amidst the negative chatter, Miami Mayor Suarez maintained his stance on cryptos.

Investor angst over Fed monetary policy and fears of an economic recession have hit riskier assets. The NASDAQ 100 is down 26.9% year-to-date.

As a result of the market stress, bitcoin’s correlation with the NASDAQ strengthened this year, leaving bitcoin down 38% year-to-date. For bitcoin, increased regulatory scrutiny added to the negative sentiment.

Despite the bearish trend, referenced as the crypto winter, crypto advocates remain resolute.

Miami City Mayor Suarez Continues to Take a Bitcoin Salary

This week, Mayor Francis Suarez spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, representing Miami. The crypto advocate reportedly told an audience that he continues to receive a bitcoin salary.

The Miami mayor did say, however,

“I will note, for the record, that it’s not my only salary.”

Adding,

“It’s a different decision to take than if a person was deciding to take their salary in Bitcoin if it was the only source of income for them.”

Suarez went further to talk about his focus on the utility of cryptos, noting that there is a difference between protecting people from fraud and protecting people from losses.

On the issues of losses, Suarez said,

“Government has had a tendency over time to try to protect people against losses, and you can’t protect people against losses.”

Mayor Suarez first announced that he would take a bitcoin salary in November 2021. At that time, bitcoin was heading towards a November 10 all-time high of $68,979 before its meteoric collapse. The crypto winter saw bitcoin slide to a May 12 current year low of $25,836.

While Mayor Suarez took a more pragmatic view on cryptocurrencies, others took the opportunity to continue to crypto bash. Central banks and the IMF have taken an anti-crypto stance for some time, and things were no different at Davos.

Central bankers and the IMF Use the Davos Stage to Target Cryptos

The IMF seized its opportunity to talk down crypto once more, with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva comparing cryptos to pyramid schemes.

Central bankers also took to the anti-crypto stage. ECB President Christine Lagarde didn’t hold back after calling cryptos worthless over the weekend. Lagarde described cryptos as,

“speculative assets, the value of which changes enormously over the course of time, and they present themselves as currencies, which they are not.”

The Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, chimed in saying, that they are not reliable currencies or a reliable means of payment. This was a view echoed by Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput.