On some stage, the brand new mayor is just using an age-old political technique: making overtures to the enterprise neighborhood. Fintech is a rising area in New York Metropolis, and blockchain-based firms signify a major a part of the sector.
The business, in flip, has embraced Mr. Adams. In late September, Michael Novogratz, a significant cryptocurrency investor, hosted a fund-raiser for him at Zero Bond, the members-only downtown nightclub the place Mr. Adams has been identified to fraternize late into the night time.
In an interview, Mr. Novogratz described Mr. Adams’s announcement as a potent image.
“Pay attention, he’s pro-business, he understands this can be a rising business, and it’s nice P.R. for the town and him,” stated Mr. Novogratz, the founder and chief government of Galaxy Digital, a New York cryptocurrency funding agency that has in recent times grown from roughly 40 workers to greater than 200. “It’s a booming business and to symbolically say, ‘I care about and I would like as a metropolis to take part in it’ is absolutely, actually sensible.”
Mr. Adams, shortly after his election, additionally flew to Puerto Rico on the non-public jet of Brock Pierce, a former little one actor who’s now a cryptocurrency investor. Mr. Adams stated he paid his personal option to Puerto Rico, however declined to supply receipts. Mr. Pierce, who attended the mayor’s election night time victory get together at Zero Bond and donated $100,000 to a political motion committee that supported Mr. Adams’s mayoral bid, stated he was “preoccupied” and would name again later when requested for touch upon Thursday.
State Senator Diane J. Savino, who chairs the Senate Committee on Web and Know-how, stated that whereas Mr. Adams’s announcement would possibly look like showmanship, his actions would make his constituents extra snug with cryptocurrency.
