NYC Mayor Adams deems bitcoin not a security in disclosure mishap

Mayor Eric Adams said he did not hold any crypto over $1,000 after saying he had converted his first three paychecks into the crypto

article-image

New York City Mayor Eric Adams | Ron Adar/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who converted paychecks to crypto and angled the city as an industry hotspot, erred on a disclosure because he thought bitcoin wasn’t a security, his team said.  

Adams made an error on a mandatory report filed with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, his team said Thursday. 

In his 2022 financial disclosure report, Adams answered “no” when asked if he held “any security (such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds or cryptocurrencies) with a market value of $1,000 or more” at the end of 2022. Asked about the lack of disclosure around his bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) holdings, Adams’ team said he would be amending the disclosure. 

Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy told The New York Daily News Thursday Adams failed to report his crypto holdings because he thought only securities were included in the question, not currencies. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said bitcoin is not a security. 

Read more: The SEC says these crypto assets are securities, but their reasoning is wrong

Adams took office in 2022 and said he would “take” his first three paychecks in bitcoin. In reality, the mayor converted his post-tax pay into crypto on Coinbase, he said. The move was part of the mayor’s broader plan to establish the city as a crypto hub. 

“NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!,” Adams said on Twitter after winning the election. 

Presidential candidate Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, also known as a crypto proponent, indicated in his year-end 2022 financial disclosures that his crypto holdings were worth around $70,000. Suarez has said that he converts his $130,000 annual salary into crypto via Stripe. 

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would be accepting campaign donations in bitcoin. Financial disclosures from Kennedy reveal the candidate held between $100,001 and $250,000 of bitcoin through the second quarter.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

REPORT_Template.png

Research

The Sonic blockchain is leveraging redesigned airdrop incentives and its FeeM program to propel DeFi activity and attract institutional capital, setting the stage for ecosystem growth. Within this environment, leading protocols Shadow Exchange and Silo are poised to asymmetrically benefit due to innovative features and favorable valuations, despite facing ecosystem dependency and competitive pressures. This positions them as compelling, potentially shorter-term, investment opportunities contingent on Sonic's sustained success.

article-image

Bitcoin needs a price, but its magic runs deeper

article-image

Circle had a pretty successful first day of trading, but what’s next for the stablecoin issuer?

article-image

Solana’s USDC caught a boost after being paired with the TRUMP memecoin

article-image

The stablecoin issuer’s successful first day of trading is likely to spur more crypto IPOs, industry watchers say

article-image

Job openings rallied and continuing claims stalled ahead of May’s employment report

article-image

A group of Twitch streamers battle for bitcoin. Will their chats help them?