The City of Miami, Florida is planning to give out bitcoin dividends to citizens who set up a digital wallet. The city has been staking its cryptocurrency, MiamiCoin, since August as a way to generate profits to use towards city projects and hopes to one day cover the city's total tax revenue. In the past three months the first "CityCoin" has generated yields with a present value of over USD $21 million for Miami City.
Speaking with CoinDesk TV, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said:
We’re going to be the first city in America to give a bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents
Miami's reserve wallet, converts MiamiCoin deposits into USD based on directions from city officials. Suarez said that if the yield continues at its current rate it could soon cover the entire city’s tax needs:
You could theoretically at one point pay the entire tax revenue of the city and the city could be a city that runs without taxes
As the mayor's goal ultimate goal is to get Bitcoin into the hands of an increasing amount of people, residents will not need to hold MiamiCoin in order to receive the bitcoin payment, they will just need to set up a digital wallet, which the Miami government is seeking to establish with various exchanges.
It's no secret Suarez is a big Bitcoin fan. This recent announcement follows tweets sharing his hope to soon get paid in Bitcoin and his announcement in February that he hopes to turn the city of Miami into a major crypto hub by passing “the most advanced crypto laws”.
While a significant amount of work is yet to be done by way of creating a registration and verification system for the wallets to recieve a bitcoin yield, Miami is certainly on its way to becoming one of the most crypto-friendly cities in the world.