NYC Mayor Fails To Disclose BTC, ETH Holdings In Financial Disclosure

• NYC Mayor Eric Adams to amend his financial disclosure form and include his Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings.
• A spokesperson reported that Adams misunderstood the question on the form and believed it only referred to traditional securities.
• Deputy Mayor Phil Banks and adviser Timothy Pearson disclosed their specific Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced that he will revise his financial disclosure form after it was highlighted that the form didn’t include any information about his Bitcoin and Ethereum holding.

In this year’s form submitted to the city Conflicts of Interest Board, Adams responded negatively to a query regarding his possession of any financial assets with a value of $1,000 or higher at the end of 2022. These assets include securities such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, or cryptocurrencies.

According to CNBC, a spokesperson on Adam’s behalf named Fabien Levy, shared that the mayor failed to disclose his shares in BTC and ETH due to his misunderstanding of the question. Apparently, he believed it solely pertained to traditional securities.

In November, Eric Adams made a noteworthy declaration that captured the attention of the cryptocurrency community, noted The New York Times. He stated that upon assuming the role of mayor of New York City, he intended to receive his initial three paychecks in Bitcoin.

Due to federal labor laws mandating that the city pays its employees in official government currency, Adams coordinated with Coinbase to convert his paycheck into Bitcoin and Ethereum on Fridays.

Despite the collapse of one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX, which resulted in significant losses for crypto investors amounting to trillions of dollars, Eric Adams continued steadfastly in his stance on crypto. He referred to crypto as the “future of commerce,” while adding:

These industries are not going to go away because they reached a low point. This is an industry that we must embrace.

New York Daily News emphasized that Levy confirmed that the mayor still possesses cryptocurrencies and acknowledged that the disclosure will be updated to reflect the value of those holdings at the end of 2022, following outreach from The News. However, the spokesperson declined to provide immediate details regarding the specific value of the holdings.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks and senior adviser Timothy Pearson provided accurate responses to the cryptocurrency question in their annual financial disclosures. Both Banks and Pearson, who have maintained a close relationship with Adams since their time in the NYPD, even specified the dollar value of their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings.

According to Pearson’s disclosure, he possessed a Bitcoin stake of less than 5% that was valued at a minimum of $60,000 at the close of 2022. On the other hand, Banks’ disclosure indicated that he held a minimum of $6,000 in Bitcoin and at least $5,000 in Ethereum.