New York City crypto-friendly mayor Eric Adams has mistakenly responded “no” to whether he held any securities including cryptocurrencies, in his annual financial disclosure form.
A spokesperson for the mayor told Daily News on July 13, that the mayor will amend his financial disclosure form in order to reflect his crypto holdings.
Eric Adams, who wants New York City to become the global capital for crypto, received his first three mayoral paychecks – worth $30,000 roughly – in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in January 2022. Later in November, Adam said he still held the two popular cryptos, despite extreme market turbulence.
According to Fabien Levy, the Democrat’s spokesman, the mayor “misunderstood” the question in the form if he held any security, including stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds or cryptos with a market value of $1,000 or more, thinking that it referred to only securities.
“The mayor still owns crypto and that he will amend the disclosure to reflect how much those holdings were worth at the end of 2022,” he told the publication.
Two Top Aides Didn’t Omit Crypto Holdings
Although Adams misunderstood and replied “no” to the question, two of his office aides did not miss out to mention their crypto holdings.
Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks and senior adviser Timothy Pearson, both of whom served in the NYC Police Department along with Adams, have replied “yes” to whether they held any security, such as crypto.
Pearson noted that he owned $60,000 of Bitcoin stake at the end of 2022, while Banks said he held close to $6,000 in BTC and $5,000 in ETH.
Adams’ pro-crypto plans wagered a “friendly competition” with the mayor of Miami Francis Suarez, who was the first to set up a so-called CityCoin token. Suarez’s crypto holdings were around $71,321 at the end of 2022, his latest disclosure obtained by The Miami Herald, revealed.
Despite crypto’s downturn in value last year, Suarez told CNBC in January that converting his salary to Bitcoin had been “a good investment.”
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