In a press conference on Monday, Mayor Eric Adams spoke to reporters about the city’s first Crypto Summit that will be held at Gracie Mansion next week. Flanked by crypto entrepreneurs Richie Hecker and June Ou, as well as New York City’s CTO Matthew Fraser, Adams reiterated his goal of “making New York City the crypto capital of the globe.”
“The summit will bring together crypto innovators and influencers to share insights and experiences that they will use to chart our path forward,” the mayor said at the steps of Gracie Mansion. “Bringing together all of these great minds and coordinations, hearing from our keynote speakers, and just really a cross-pollination of ideas and methods that we will use to move this industry in the right direction, both in terms of economic development and opportunities to serve the public using digital assets.” The event is scheduled for May 20th, from 2pm to 8pm at the mayor’s residence.
“We look forward to working together to develop brilliant ideas that will solidify New York City as the crypto capital of the world,” said Richard Hecker, whose investment firm Traction + Scale states that they “operate supply chain and real estate related businesses” according to the company website. He applauded Adams’ efforts which have enabled the company to “develop public-private partnerships” with government. June Ou, founder of the crypto trading firm Figure, declared that “New York City is undoubtedly the right place for blockchain and fintech companies looking to make a significant impact on the blockchain and crypto industry.” The mayor also proposed cryptocurrencies could help underbanked communities, saying that “this new form of financing and finance is something that can impact those communities that have historically found themselves lacking in access to banks and access to ways to save their resources and dollars.”
Adams is a longtime supporter of cryptocurrencies, having accepted his first three paychecks as mayor in Bitcoin when he took office in 2022. Since then, the value of Bitcoin has more than doubled, going from $47,686.81 on his first day as mayor to $102,455.51 as of this writing. In 2023, Adams reported holding $5,000 and $54,999.99 worth of crypto assets as part of his financial disclosure. “Many people laughed at me,” he said on Monday. “And all I can say is, who’s laughing now?” Adams went on to caution against “overregulation” of the industry from the New York State’s Department of Financial Services.
The promotion of next week’s event comes as members of Eric Adams’ party in Congress are seeking tougher regulations on their use by public officials in the face of President Trump’s windfall from the creation of his own memecoin, $TRUMP. Firms associated with the Trump family are estimated to have already gained north of $300 million in transaction fees from sale of the token, even though retail investors who bought in have mostly lost their investment, as $TRUMP has lost 87% of its value as of May 9th.
