NYC is getting its own city coin in line with the incoming mayor's crypto hub vision

• NYC is about to get its own coin in line with the incoming mayor's vision of running a crypto-friendly city.
• The coin is called NYCCoin. It is launched by CityCoins, a nonprofit and open-source protocol that gives investors an avenue to support their cities.
• When the coins are mined, the nonprofit allocates 30% of its reward to the city.

New York City is about to get its own digital token in line with the vision of Mayor-Elect Eric Adams to transform the Big Apple into a cryptocurrency hub.

The coin is called NYCCoin and is being launched by CityCoins, a civic-minded community and open-source protocol that gives investors an avenue to support their cities by expanding their crypto treasury while earning for themselves. When bought or mined, it allocates 30% of its reward to the city.

NYCCoin's launch follows close behind MiamiCoin, which to date has earned more than $21.3 million for the city of Miami since its August 2021 launch, the community said.

While Austin, Texas was a close contender, the community eventually chose New York, propelled by the incoming mayor's pro-crypto stance, Patrick Stanley, a CityCoins community lead, told Insider.

"The community wants to support New York," Stanley said. "We were very successful in Miami and Eric Adams saw that. He signaled it publicly on Twitter."

After CityCoins on Tuesday announced New York is its next destination, the incoming mayor retweeted the post with the caption: "We're glad to welcome you to the global home of Web3! We're counting on tech and innovation to help drive our city forward."

Adams announced he will take his first three paychecks in bitcoin, days after Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he will take his next one in the same asset.

Suarez for his part also seemed to enjoy the amicable rivalry, replying to Adams within minutes: "Touché."

Mayor Suarez in October told The Washington Post that he hopes MiamiCoin will support his city enough that his residents would not have to pay taxes.

Stanley clarified that there is no formal partnership between the cities and the CityCoins. The selected city, however, does have to accept the project and the designated wallet that is custodied for them. They can choose to convert these assets into US dollars.

CityCoins, Stanley added, chooses the cities based on their own assessment. Their goal is to set up coins in 200 "startup cities" all over the world in the next two years. Start-up cities, Stanley told Insider, have no strict definition but the community does follow a rubric that comprises eight qualities.

CityCoins will be powered by the stacks protocol, an open-source network that allows developers to easily build decentralized applications and smart contracts on top of the bitcoin blockchain, the community said.

Anyone can compete to mine NYCCoin, which will begin on November 10 at around 3 p.m. ET.

Since the city gets 30%, the remaining 70% can be stacked or temporarily locked by coin holders who earn STX, the crypto of the stacks protocol, and bitcoin. The city coins in general are also not issued or distributed before the start of mining.

STX was trading at around $2.24 as of Tuesday morning ET and has a market valuation of $2.8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.