New York billionaire wants the state to lift barriers on crypto activities

New York has a mixed stand on matters to do with cryptocurrencies. Towards the end of last year, Eric Adams was elected as the mayor of New York City. Adams is a vocal Bitcoin (BTC/USD) supporter, and he even agreed to receive his first paycheck in cryptocurrencies.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has now called upon Adams and the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, to remove the barriers preventing people from investing in cryptocurrencies.

New York billionaire wants crypto barriers removed

Ackman took to Twitter to respond to a complaint of an individual who had failed to open a cryptocurrency exchange account for being a resident of New York.

“Let’s fix this right away. We can’t lose any more New Yorkers. NY is on its way to becoming a crypto centre of innovation. Let’s remove barriers, create opportunities for growth and innovation, and help our state and city!” Ackman also threatened to leave New York and move to another state if these barriers were not removed.

During Adam’s mayoral campaign trail last year, he said he wanted to make New York a cryptocurrency hub. This has ignited optimism from crypto firms, with some moving to New York after Adam was elected. Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, recently expanded into Manhattan, saying it wanted to leverage “the city’s deep talent pool for our next phase of growth.”

Adams has also advocated for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency studies, saying that they could bring innovativeness into the city and support future generations.

Crypto regulatory framework in New York

Despite some optimism in the market, there is still a tough policy on the crypto mining industry. The New York Governor is not an advocate of cryptocurrency mining, and he has stated this in the past. NYC mayor has also stated that while he supports cryptocurrencies, he does not share the same sentiments with mining.

Governor Hochul has been criticized by environmentalists for failing to take a harsh stance against cryptocurrency mining.

Food & Water watch sent a note to Hochul saying,

We are hopeful that the Governor’s encouraging worlds on climate will be backed up by strong action, starting with a rejection of the Greenidge fracked gas power plant currently powering a Bitcoin mining operation in the Finger Lakes, and a commitment to stop the ludicrous practice of firing up dirty, retired power plans to mine cryptocurrency.

The post New York billionaire wants the state to lift barriers on crypto activities appeared first on Invezz.