The stimulus bill signed by the US government pushed Miami’s pro bitcoin mayor to purchase portions of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
In a recent interview, Francis Suarez also touched upon the role that Elon Musk plays in the market and said that BTC could serve as a valid hedge only after it stops going up and down by double-digits after interactions by Tesla’s CEO.
Miami Mayor Owns BTC and ETH
Ever since the start of the year, Francis Suarez, the current mayor of Miami, has displayed quite a favorable approach towards bitcoin. Previously, he said he was “open to explore” investing 1% of the city’s treasury reserves in BTC and contemplated accepting taxes in the form of the digital asset.
During an interview with Squawk Box from Tuesday, Suarez admitted that he is actually a BTC and ETH hodler. He decided to enter the cryptocurrency space with his own money after President Biden signed the latest stimulus bill earlier this year.
Upon that point, Suarez realized that the inflation levels for the dollar will skyrocket in the following years due to the excessive printing and decided to look for a hedge in the form of digital assets.
He bought bitcoin at prices “in the high 30s” – where the asset is situated now as well, and ether at around $1,500 – meaning that he sits on roughly 2x unrealized gains from his ETH investment.
Furthermore, Miami’s mayor said he was planning to buy the current dip, as BTC and ETH are around 40% away from their respective peaks reached earlier this year, but he was “just too busy.”
Suarez on Elon Musk’s Role
It’s worth noting that the aforementioned “dip” started when Tesla disabled BTC payments for its EV products, and the company’s CEO started criticizing the asset because of the high levels of energy used to mine it. Although many other factors joined after that, Musk has received much of the blame for the crash.
Suarez referred to the billionaire’s role in such developments. Despite believing that a relatively new invention as the crypto market is prone to experience double-digit price fluctuations in a day, he noted that the industry will mature only after it stops reacting to single tweets, even if they come from one of the world’s most influential people.
Suarez admitted that he is a “big fan” of Elon Musk but asserted that bitcoin can become a proper hedge against fiat currencies only when this enhanced volatility “works itself out.”
It’s worth noting that Miami is about to host the biggest Bitcoin conference this week.
Featured Image Courtesy of Bloomberg
