New York’s Forthcoming Mayor Thinks Crypto Literacy Should Be Taught In Schools
Image ID 111116684 © via Marc Bruxelle | Dreamstime.com
Last week, New York’s Mayor-Elect Eric Adams announced that he would be receiving his first three paychecks in Bitcoin in an effort to show how serious he was about turning the city into the “center of cryptocurrency.”
Now, the upcoming chief thinks that schools should teach students about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. In an interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Adams said bitcoin was the “new way of paying for goods and services throughout the entire globe,” and that schools “must” add it to the curriculum.
“When I talked about blockchain and bitcoins, young people on the street stopped and asked me, ‘What is that?’” he said.
According to CNBC, it isn’t clear if Adams wanted cryptocurrency to be taught at an elementary, high school or college level, though he said students should be exposed to “this new way of thinking.”
However, not everyone has been as supportive of Adams’ push for cryptocurrency. Jason Furman, a former economic advisor to President Obama, said he wasn’t all for the mayor-elect’s plans, likening it to a politician buying a stake in Amazon, then implementing policies to benefit the company.
“Not only is this a bad economic strategy for NYC, and a bad investment decision, it also seems like a conflict of interest,” Furman tweeted.
Adams said Furman’s analogy didn’t hold up, as he had invested his own money in cryptocurrency, and not the state’s.
“I’ve lost thousands of dollars in the stock market during the stock market crash in my retirement fund. Volatility is part of some of the investments that we make,” explained Adams.
“I want to make sure that this city becomes the center of innovation no matter what that innovation is, and this is what the human spirit is about: Not being afraid to look at every area of innovation as we move our country and city forward.”
[via CNBC, cover image via Marc Bruxelle | Dreamstime.com]
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