The number of US city mayors, whether current or running, supporting bitcoin continues to grow. After Miami’s Francis Suarez, the favorite to win the race in New York City, Eric Adams, promised to make NYC different in a year, including becoming the “center of bitcoin.”

“I promise you, in one year … you’re going to see a different city.

We’re going to become the center of life science, the center of cyber security, the center of self-driving cars, drones, the center of bitcoin, we’re going to be the center of all the technology.”

According to The New York Times, Adams is currently leading New York City’s mayoral race with around 32% of votes. But the primary election results will likely not be known until mid-July, when they are expected to be announced.

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, a longtime bitcoin fan who has made similar promises, was running second in line before he decided to drop out of the race earlier this week. Now, The New York Times data shows that Adams’ closest rival is Maya Wiley, who is more than 75,000 votes behind.

Adams didn’t elaborate on how he plans to achieve his ambitious goal of turning New York City into a Bitcoin hub, but he did send a message to his primary competitor in this regard — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

“Miami, you had your run. We’re bringing our businesses back,” said Adams.

But the mayoral candidate might be facing fierce competition, as Miami has already started taking tangible measures to bring bitcoin to city-level adoption.

Months before Adams spoke about bitcoin, another mayor of a large US city was the first to express his support about the asset. Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami, said he was opened to explore investing 1% of the treasury reserves in BTC.

Since then, he has reaffirmed his stance, indicating that he is a holder of bitcoin and ether. He also attracted the world’s largest Bitcoin conference to take place in Miami, where he praised the primary cryptocurrency once more.

Most recently, Suarez tried to lure BTC miners into relocating to his city and promised them incentives like cheap nuclear energy.

New York’s own legislation might pose difficulties for Adams to outpace Miami and turn his city into the center of Bitcoin. The notorious BitLicense, a business license for bitcoin activities issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, entails considerable costs to those wishing to operate in the state.

Apart from the $5,000 application fee, a report calculates that gathering and constructing all of the information for the application process can amount to over $100,000. In addition, BitLicense’s extensive requirements pose a privacy concern for many in the bitcoin industry, who see it as intrusive and unjustly targeting bitcoin startups.

For instance, prominent Lightning network startup Strike — which is helping El Salvador establish bitcoin as legal tender — does not work in New York.

Source: Mayoral Front Runner Wants NYC to Become the 'Center of Bitcoin' – Fintechs.fi