Miami Bringing the Crypto Heat
Miami, Florida, has “completely leaned into innovation” according to the city’s mayor, Francis Suarez, standing in front of the cryptobull––an android version of Wall Street’s charging bull––at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Miami Beach.
"I think this cryptobull really symbolizes how the...center of gravity of the country has moved from San Francisco in venture capital and private equity in New York to the city of Miami," Suarez said.
For the last decade the Magic City has been a relatively unhailed, yet growing, technology hub––now boasting $1 trillion in investment funds for startups alone. With companies such as Microsoft, Spotify and Blockchain.com having already opened offices in Miami, attention was really drawn to south Florida on December 4, 2020 with a simple tweet by Suarez. A venture capitalist suggested on Twitter that Silicon Valley move to Miami, to which Suarez replied, “how can I help?” This started a cascade of dialogue throughout the media about Miami becoming Silicon Valley 2.0.
Suarez is working hard to continue this momentum.
For the last two years Suarez has been working to lure more blockchain and fintech companies to Miami through regulatory enactments, tax incentives and more. The migration has been bolstered in no small part by numerous other companies, venture capitalists and talent moving to Miami since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Aventura Magazine, a Miami-based local publication, “For the first nine months of 2021, there was a funding deal announced, on average, nearly every weekday––179 funding deals total for startups and growing companies. Those deals brought the tech investment surge in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area to $2.4 billion in the first three quarters of the year.”
The city’s former industrial district of Wynwood has also been turned into a center of Web3 technologies in its own right. Home to a slew of cryptocurrency non-profits and the Blockchain Institute of Technology, Wynwood also hosted the ‘world’s largest Bitcoin conference’ in 2021. The district is now known colloquially as ‘Sili-coin Valley’.
All of this has led the Financial Times to call Miami “the most important city in America”. Yet Suarez’s enthusiasm has led to some critics panning his efforts as “all flash, no action”. They point to the city’s installation of Bitcoin ATMs along South Beach, the launch and subsequent downturn of the city’s own cryptocurrency, MiamiCoin, and even the mayor’s tweet stating that he will receive his salary in Bitcoin, as nothing more than gimmicks.
Despite this, Suarez is nevertheless opening the door to the madcap world of crypto. Largely unregulated, many entrepreneurs and investors want regulation enacted so they can know how to best structure their businesses and investments. To that end, Suarez is rolling out the red carpet.
Maja Vujinovic, managing director of OGroupLLC, says Suarez has done a “tremendous job” welcoming entrepreneurs, investors and companies. Miami wants to work alongside innovators in the crypto space to provide regulatory guidance, provide tax incentives and connect people, especially locals, so that crypto and other Web3 technologies can benefit the general population.
It is true that some of the city’s implementations will probably not last, such as Bitcoin ATMs (which do the same thing as any crypto exchange app). Nevertheless, Miami is offering investors a lot of underlying value and continues to garner tremendous interest.
