Miami mayor reveals the formula for his city’s success as tech hub

Florida to hold biggest Bitcoin event in the world

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told "Mornings with Maria" on Monday that cryptocurrency is one of the ways his city has "completely leaned into innovation" and has put itself on the map as a major technology hub in America. 

Suarez made the comment as he revealed the formula for his city’s success as a technology hub ahead of the world’s largest Bitcoin conference that is being held in Miami starting on Wednesday. 

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Bitcoin started the week trading down around $46,000, after gaining over the weekend ahead of the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami this week, which Suarez noted is "the largest crypto conference in the world." 

"We are going to have 50,000 attendees and it’s going to be an economic development boom for our city, creating thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic incentives for our city," the Miami mayor told host Maria Bartiromo

When Bartiromo asked Suarez why crypto has been important in terms of instituting it as part of the Miami economy, he responded by noting that "it’s part of our transitional brand from a city that was a great place to visit, a great place to retire, to what [the] Financial Times called "the most important city in America."

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Francis Suarez, mayor of Miami, speaks during the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miam. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

He noted that Miami was able to achieve that title "by keeping true to three simple rules," which includes keeping taxes as low as possible and increasing funding for the police. 

Suarez noted that prioritizing safety has led to a reduction in homicides "last year by 23% and this year by close to 40%." 

He stressed that "leaning into innovation" is the third way Miami was able to put itself on the map as an important city.

"Crypto is one of the ways that we have completely leaned into innovation to take away this concept that there are other cities in America that are the technological hubs of our country," Suarez told Bartiromo. 

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"Because of that we have seen our venture capital increase by 200% year-over-year, and we’ve moved over a trillion dollars in assets under management companies to the city in just 16 months."

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