Cryptocurrencies seemed to be the latest topic of interest for the mayors of different US cities. Philadelphia wanted to be a front runner and hence plunged into the crypto market by partnering with CityCoins.
The Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney had undoubtedly caught the crypto bug. The mayor wanted to spruce up things in the city by formulating a cryptocurrency with CityCoins. This initiative went put in place to garner donations “to target pressing problems in the city.”
A statement released by the mayor’s office points out that they weren’t bullish on crypto yet. The mayor’s office was still in the “early stages” of classifying crypto as beneficial. Therefore, with the help of CityCoins powered by the Stacks [STX] blockchain, the government would be able to roll out its very own unique cryptocurrency.
Philadelphia Chief Information Officer, Mark Wheeler was the first to break the news.
Crypto to revolutionize the monetary world; Philadelphia grabs front row seats
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney was walking in the footsteps of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. However, unlike his counterparts, Kenney was not big on Bitcoin yet. Earlier this week, Wheeler spoke to Statescoop and revealed that they were aiming to render a coin that did not use extensive energy. He said,
“I think we can simply say, ‘This isn’t Bitcoin and it’s not requiring new servers to be set up and it’s not requiring intensive energy use.’ I think that’s a valid, verifiable statement.”
Over the last couple of months, an array of cities across the US partnered with CityCoins to launch their own crypto. Miami was the first to do so with MiamiCoin. More recently, New York City rolled out the NYCCoin. While Austin also jumped on the bandwagon, it hasn’t started the mining process yet. Philly would be the fourth US city to do the same.
All the aforementioned cities were looking to bolster their treasury holdings via crypto. The process isn’t as extensive as that of Bitcoin which uses the proof-of-work algorithm. About 30% of the mined STX tokens are delivered to the city’s wallet. This crypto would then be sold/converted for USD and then further into the city treasury.
Philly emerged as the fourth city to embrace crypto. This could mean that an array of other cities could be in line to do the same.