Andrew Yang wants to turn New York City (NYC) into a Bitcoin hub if he is elected as mayor of the city
Andrew Yang wants to turn New York City into a place cryptocurrency users would find appealing if he is elected mayor of the city. Yang has been a long-term cryptocurrency proponent and ran a presidential campaign on that platform. Now he’s running for office to become the mayor of New York and plans to turn it into a Bitcoin hub.
The Democratic Party front-runner for the mayoral race made this statement while replying to a tweet by Meltem Demirors. Demirors complained about how hard it was for crypto companies to operate in New York due to the high taxes in the city and the taxes on the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Bitlicense.
Yang replied that as mayor of NYC, he intends to make the city a hub for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Yang’s reply attracted a flurry of mixed comments as some people believe it to be a campaign-selling tactic, while others think it is political suicide.
However, most of the comments asked Yang to use his powers, if elected, to eliminate Bitlicense to ensure the city becomes an open place for cryptocurrency companies to operate. Demirors, the chief security officer (CSO) of CoinShares, told Yang he would need to take care of the high state taxes and Bitlicense to turn the city into a cryptocurrency hub.
Yang is currently the Democratic Party front runner, with recent polls showing he is ahead of City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. He ran on the same platform of creating a cryptocurrency-enabling America during the last presidential elections but ultimately stepped down.
In 2019, Yang argued that the United States Congress lacked the basic knowledge needed to roll out effective cryptocurrency legislation. Hence, the US will be playing catch-up to countries with clear-cut regulations.
Bitcoin has been performing well in recent weeks. The leading cryptocurrency briefly touched the $49,000 mark a few hours ago, taking its total market cap to $900 billion. Its recent rally might see BTC surge past the $50,000 mark over the next few days or weeks as the retail and institutional demand for the cryptocurrency increases.