Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has said the United States should mine more bitcoin due to national security reasons since 90% of the activity is done outside the country.
Speaking to cryptocurrency journalist Laura Shin, the mayor said that the environmental degradation narrative had taken center stage with more external mining activities. He notes that countries accounting for most mining use dirty energy, and the U.S. holds the key to flipping the narrative.
According to the mayor, the U.S. led by Miami can be a mining hub due to the availability of enough resources.
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He added that more mining in the U.S. would primarily benefit the cryptocurrency community because of clean energy like unlimited nuclear power.
However, Suarez remains optimistic that environmental concerns brought about by cryptocurrency mining will be a thing of the past as new technology emerges to ease mining power needs.
“I also think in the future, you’re going to see solar and other kinds of clean technology, hydrogen as a technology that propels mining, as well as you’re going to see mining happening in different forms. There are going to be bigger hash blocks…So I think technology is going to make it more efficient, less expensive, and less power consuming,” said Suarez.
Plans to make Miami crypto capital
Suarez, a big proponent of bitcoin, has made inroads to market Miami as global cryptocurrency capital.
In February, the mayor played a key role in bitcoin hitting a new all-time high after announcing the city will pay municipal workers and accept tax payments in bitcoin. He also revealed plans to invest city funds in cryptocurrency.
Suarez has been making attempts to attract technology firms to Miami. In this line, the city is enacting policy changes to attract more crypto players.
Miami is working on having a regulatory environment welcoming crypto exchanges to operate in the city. The city is following Wyoming and New York’s footsteps that have made advances in defining their crypto ecosystem.
