NYC Mayor Signs EO Establishing Digital Assets and Blockchain Office

New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams introduced the institution of a municipal digital belongings and blockchain workplace in a bid to cement his crypto agenda within the ultimate months of his time period.

In a Tuesday discover from the mayor’s workplace, Adams said he had used an govt order beneath his authority to create the Workplace of Digital Belongings and Blockchain Know-how. Moises Rendon, who has labored as a digital belongings and blockchain coverage adviser for New York Metropolis since April 2024, will head the newly established workplace.

“Our metropolis has at all times been the middle of innovation, and we’re embracing the applied sciences of tomorrow at present,” stated Adams. “The age of digital belongings is right here, and with it comes the possibility to develop our economic system, appeal to world-class expertise, increase alternatives for underbanked communities, and make authorities extra user-friendly.”

Adams rose to prominence for a lot of within the crypto business after providing to accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin (BTC) whereas operating for mayor in 2021. Throughout his time as mayor, he has established a digital advisory council, referred to as for town to create BTC-backed bonds, and criticized New York’s BitLicense program as being too strict. 

The NYC mayor announced in September that he wouldn’t run for reelection after initially campaigning as a Democrat after which as an Impartial. His present time period ends on Jan. 1, 2026.

Associated: Top NY regulator updates crypto guidance after announcing departure

In response to Adams, the workplace would develop “methods to strengthen town’s function” as a cryptocurrency hub, together with advising the mayor on insurance policies and laws. It is going to additionally coordinate with town’s workplace of know-how and innovation and report on to New York Metropolis’s chief know-how officer, Matthew Fraser.

Crypto business leaders eyeing NYC mayoral race

With Adams anticipated to depart the mayor’s workplace in lower than three months, many business executives, together with Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss, have floated the possibility of “get[ting] concerned” within the 2025 election, both by means of private or monetary help.

Voters will head to the polls on Nov. 4 and sure resolve between the 2 frontrunners: impartial candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, has been trailing Cuomo and Mamdani in lots of polls.