Five Francis Suarez Cryptocurrency Tweets From Before the FTX Downfall

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Miami and cryptocurrency really are a match made in hell. While town is sinking beneath sea stage with the remainder of South Florida, digital currencies are additionally taking a nosedive into the drink.

Just this week, Sam Bankman-Fried, onetime-billionaire CEO of crypto trade platform FTX, happy cryptocurrency skeptics keen on schadenfreude when he misplaced the overwhelming majority of his wealth in a matter of days.

Bankman-Fried’s firm and checking account collapsed as traders quickly pulled out of FTX, leaving him with a paltry fraction of his earlier internet value, as soon as estimated to have reached greater than $20 billion. Competitor trade Binance additionally pulled out of a deal to buy FTX, leaving Bankman-Fried scrambling for money to maintain his firm afloat.

Meanwhile, the distinguished cryptocurrency Bitcoin has been on a gradual collision course over the previous yr. Bitcoin’s worth reached a low of about $16,000 per coin on November 9, down from an all-time excessive of $66,000 in November of 2021. Other cryptocurrencies are additionally dealing with an intense crash.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, in the meantime, has been pretty quiet on-line concerning the current information.

Normally fast to reward crypto and no matter newest tech craze desires to make its approach to Miami, Suarez hasn’t Tweeted something relating to Bankman-Fried or Bitcoin up to now few weeks. In gentle of this, New Times has determined to climb within the Way Back Machine and collect up some tweets from America’s crypto mayor that have not aged so nicely with current headlines in thoughts.

Peace, Prosperity and Laser Eyes

Before his fall to earth, the Icarus-like Bankman-Fried had entertained hopes of turning Miami into a world cryptocurrency hub. It can be the sort of epicenter of high-tech trendy business that everyone appears to be speaking about however nobody really understands.

After his firm purchased the naming rights to American Airlines Arena final March, Bankman-Fried tweeted that he regarded ahead to bringing “peace and prosperity” to Miami residents by FTX’s funding.

While that is hokey sufficient in its personal proper, Suarez piled on, with a sign increase tinged with a poor try at memeing.

“Overjoyed that your dedication to our neighborhood advances our efforts to be essentially the most crypto pleasant metropolis on the planet. All I must do now’s determine how one can put the pink laser dots on my eyes,” Suarez responded.

(For reference, tech CEOs and self-avowed “meme lords” wish to put pink laser eyes on their on-line profile footage. Yes, it is about as humorous because it sounds.)

Welcome Home FTX

Last September, Bankman-Fried introduced that FTX can be transferring its headquarters to Miami, a spot well-known for pie-in-the-sky pursuits. 

Suarez retweeted Bankman-Fried (identified on Twitter as SBF), saying he was honored to have the corporate come to his metropolis.

“FTX is among the most modern firms on the planet and also you SBF are some of the modern technologists. Welcome HOME!” Suarez tweeted.

In Miami, “modern” is commonly synonymous with “filled with it.”

Unmanipulatable Value

“It’s why Bitcoin has develop into so helpful,” Suarez tweeted final October earlier than Bitcoin’s 2022 plunge. “An unmanipulatable forex/retailer of worth…”

The ironic remark was a quote tweet of Elon Musk’s personal jab at the concept the U.S. ought to do a greater job of taxing billionaires. Musk mentioned it was “primary math” that taxing billionaires alone would not repair the nationwide debt.

A yr later and each Bitcoin and Musk are each struggling large losses.

Can You Pay Me in Bitcoin?

As a part of his push to convey Miami onto the Bitcoin bandwagon, Suarez floated the concept of paying City of Miami staff in Bitcoin, even providing to take his personal paycheck within the cryptocurrency.

While any rational observer may’ve seen how dangerous an concept that was on the time, contemplating the inherently risky nature of crypto, the previous 12 months have given an ideal instance. Lucky for municipal staff, that plan by no means bought off the bottom.

Also fortunate for Suarez: he apparently did not have that a lot religion in cryptocurrency both. This July, the mayor revealed in his monetary disclosures that he solely held about $11,000 in cryptocurrency by December of 2021, which does not appear to be a giant vote of confidence from a mayor who additionally had two funding properties value a mixed $700,000 on the time.

MiamiCoin ShmiamiCoin

In a September 2021 tweet, Suarez shared a clip from his spot on Fox Business touting the revolutionary concept behind “MiamiCoin,” a municipal cryptocurrency meant to generate metropolis funds when folks “mine” or authenticate the coin. The concept was, in Suarez’s phrases, that when folks mined MiamiCoin, it will create advantages that “translate into a greater high quality of life for Miamians.”

Though the creators of MiamiCoin, an outfit referred to as Citycoin, donated over $5 million to town final June, the value of the coin has since taken a steep dive.

According to cryptocurrency worth tracker Coinbase, MiamiCoin at present sits at a whopping $0.000617 — a nigh infinitesimal fraction of a cent.

The forex has principally flatlined up to now six months, displaying virtually no indicators of life and shedding virtually all of its worth. Suarez’s Twitter, in the meantime, has been mum concerning the forex since February.

Bonus: Miami Is Alive

We’re feeling beneficiant, partly as a result of by the top of the week we is perhaps richer than Bankman-Fried, so we’ll throw in an additional tweet from the unlucky crypto entrepreneur. This one comes from a June 2021 thread by which Bankman-Fried lamented pandemic shutdowns and the way a lot of the world handled cryptocurrency firms poorly.

“The world made a alternative for us: a option to grind to a halt,” SBF tweeted. “In most locations, it is nonetheless largely halted. But Miami is alive.”

Yes, Miami remains to be alive. But FTX? Possibly not for lengthy.



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