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:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

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.

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.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Introducing garbled circuits for enhanced privacy and regulatory compliance

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens