Miami's mayor says residents will receive a bitcoin dividend in a MiamiCoin wallet

Miami is giving its residents a bitcoin dividend, according to Mayor Francis Suarez.

The Miami Mayor announced on CoinDeskTV today that a yield from the staking of the city's MiamiCoin will be paid directly to residents who acquire a wallet, register for the dividend and pass a verification process. 

MiamiCoin is the city's token derived from the CityCoins protocol, a Stacks-based protocol that allows residents to hold and trade their city's token. The protocol generates revenue for the city when residents mine tokens, with those running the software receiving 70% of the coins they mint and 30% returning to the municipality in a city wallet.

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Suarez continues to tout the project as a boon for Miami. In September, he announced that Miami had made $7.1 million since the protocol's launch in August. At this stage, Miami has made over $21 million from the project. Suarez has pointed to the project as a possible avenue to alleviate the tax burden on Miami residents. 

In the near term, it will translate to a windfall for residents, according to Suarez. The city plans to stake its payout in bitcoin and give the yield to its residents. Connecting residents with wallets and discerning who will qualify for the dividend will pose a challenge, he said.

"Is it going to be, for example, taxpayers? Is it going to be people that vote in the city? People that have a city address? That's going to be a challenge," said Suarez.

It will work with exchanges to create a city wallet and help residents to acquire and register the subsequent city wallets for the dividend. The city is utilizing a separate bitcoin giveaway as a pilot program ahead of the dividend.

About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.