MONEY FOR NOTHING: CITIES' CRYPTO PUSH DRAWS FANS, CRITICS

A small group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts has an offer that they’re hoping U.S. cities can’t refuse.

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The group City Coins is asking Miami and New York to accept the equivalent of millions of dollars in a new cryptocurrency, and at least some of the money is real: Last week, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that City Coins had transferred $5.25 million to the city.

The dizzying proposal has leaders in other cities, like Philadelphia and Dearborn, Michigan, clamoring to get in on a deal they hope might patch budgets, similar to how some cities and states had hoped lotteries or legalized gambling would be a solution to financial problems.

That hype also benefits people who get in early on the new currencies, which is part of what fuels arguments that cryptocurrency startups too closely resemble pyramid schemes.

When Suarez announced in November that his city would partner with the group, one of its leaders, Patrick Stanley, told news outlet and cryptocurrency price index company CoinDesk TV that Suarez “just turned his city into an oil-producing country that gives Bitcoin yield to its citizens, like that is incredible.”

That hasn’t happened and there are a lot of hurdles to clear, both legal and technological, before it could.