New York City Mayor Eric Adams believes schools should prepare students for a world of cryptocurrency and digital assets.
Cryptocurrency in het curriculum
New York’s mayor-elect appears to be bolstering his pro-crypto stance. He claims that schools should include cryptocurrency in their curricula.
During an interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Adams described cryptocurrency as “a new way to pay for goods and services around the world.” He urged local schools to equip students for “the new way of thinking” brought about by blockchain technology and digital currencies.
Adams also anecdotally noted that his young voters were surprisingly unfamiliar with crypto. “When I talked about blockchain and Bitcoins, young people asked me, ‘What is that?’”, said the 61-year-old.
He also indicated that he has plans to encourage New York companies to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. He added that he would “act with caution” and “do it right”. Adams also added that New York must remain a “center of innovation, whatever that innovation is.”
On social media, Adams’ comments have been met with mixed feelings by the crypto community.
Twitter user Nima Abed stated that crypto studies should be included in school curricula. Hji claimed that new investors should be equipped with “an open mind and sufficient knowledge” before braving the digital asset markets.
Others criticized the proposal, with user InnocenceCapital characterizing cryptocurrency as “speculative junk”. Schools should focus first on “successfully teaching math, history, science, language and actual financial concepts,” she added.
Adam’s support for Bitcoin
Twitter user OnlyAPrimate invoked recent criticism of Adams from Harvard economist Jason Furman. He described the mayor’s recent support for digital assets as “a little double”. It is in fact the intention of Adams to receive his first three mayoral salaries in the form of BTC.
“I really like Eric Adams. I just don’t think his job description includes hype up a crypto currency in which he’s going to get paid. It seems quite ‘convenient’”, they wrote.
The mayor’s policy platform includes transforming the city into the crypto hub of the United States. Adams also said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio that he plans to explore setting up an urban cryptocurrency in New York. This one would be similar to MiamiCoin.
New York would not be the first city in the US to implement a study program with crypto. In March it has Georgia House of Representativepassed a bill on this. It states that state education officials are being called on to implement a financial literacy program, including crypto, in high schools.
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