Upon the announcement that Francis Suarez, Mayor of the City of Miami, took a $5.25 million disbursement from the MiamiCoin wallet, Cointelegraph inquired about how the city will use these funds.
I’m so excited to announce that the @CityofMiami has received its first-ever disbursement from @mineCityCoins totaling $5.25M.
This is a historic moment for our city to collaborate with an innovative project that creates resources for our city through innovation not taxation.
— Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) February 2, 2022
Mayor Suarez pointed to the affordable “housing crisis” that Miami is facing in light of rising rent prices that don’t align with the area’s median income. He revealed that the City of Miami has been working closely with the CityCoins team since the beginning of the year to address this issue.
According to Suarez, the City of Miami had $15 million in its designated wallet after the latest crypto market crash, which in mid-January claimed to have $24 million. He said that the treasury received $5.25 million in early February.
“We’re using $5 million of those dollars to fund a rental assistance program for city residents who have experienced severe rent hikes.”
Mayor Suarez added that their “fiscally responsible” approach to using treasury funds aims to “make a substantive impact on the community” and to “grow the treasury for the long-term benefit of the citizens of Miami.”
When asked about plans to give residents a Bitcoin dividend, he said that the team is “actively working” on it and that the primary concern is to ensure that residents “have all the necessary tools to properly leverage that yield for further personal economic benefit.”
As per CityCoins guidelines, the formal process of allocating any funds from MiamiCoin requires that the City Commissions vote to decide its allocation. Thus, if residents want to voice their opinions or suggestion, they must do so via public comment. However, Mayor Suarez confirmed that the CityCoins team is in the process of creating governance DAOs to allow MiamiCoin holders to actively participate and vote on suggested measures.
Related: Navigating CityCoins: Miami citizens to earn Bitcoin despite the city not holding crypto
MiamiCoin, NYCCoin and AustinCoin are currently the only CityCoins available to mine, and their holders are rewarded via the Stacks Protocol.