At a “crypto summit” on Tuesday held by Eric Adams — the controversial mayor of New York City who recently escaped several federal corruption charges — crypto CEOs and investors made an open plea: please get rid of state crypto regulations so we can write our own and turn the Big Apple into a “crypto sanctuary city.”
This was, in fact, Adams’s goal for the summit. “I smell money, crypto, crypto, blockchain, and all the good things,” he told reporters at a press conference right before the private event began.
As of now, crypto companies can only do business in New York state if they acquire a BitLicense from state financial regulators, which is notoriously difficult to obtain. According to Bitcoin Magazine, attendees, which included Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz and Nick Spanos, the founder of the New York City Bitcoin Center, frequently attacked the program, both in front of reporters and behind closed doors during the private event, arguing that it was preventing billions of dollars from entering the city.
“We’re giving sanctuary to immigrants,” said Spanos. “We can give sanctuary to crypto companies.”
Though Adams can’t directly change state law as mayor, he’s previously called for the end of the Bitlicense program as well, and repeated his ask during the press conference. “We need your help to lobby Albany to tell them there are serious and important things that could be done on our state level so we don’t prevent the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry to grow in this city,” he told reporters.
That background knowledge could not be overlooked during Adams’s remarks, especially as he told the attendees that they, too, were victims of societal and government persecution. “Look how they treated you. If we’re honest in the conversation, you were audited,” he said. “Many of you lost some of your profits. You were harassed. You were demonized. You were treated as though you were the enemy instead of the believers.”
During the presser, Adams also announced that he was creating the city’s first digital asset advisory council and would soon start appointing its chair and other members. It’s safe to say that they would be drawn from the summit’s attendees: the private, round-table event was deliberately modeled after the Trump White House’s Digital Assets Summit in March. The Mayor’s office claims that the attendees managed a combined $1 trillion in assets around the globe. Though the participants were not identified, Coinbase reported that they were primarily from unicorn startups and family offices, citing a spokesperson from a logistics firm involved in the summit.
