Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Opening Remarks at First-Ever NYC Crypto Summit

May 20, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: I smell money, crypto, crypto, blockchain, and all the good things, and thank all of you for gracing us with your presence, for being here, just really thank you to Richie for grinding, pushing through, making it happen in a real way, and the entire team for being here. I'm a tech mayor. 

Many people don't know and realize my history. I was a computer programmer. I was one of the original architect to the precursor to COMPStat. It was called OLTPS. I used to program in COBOL, FORTRAN, and Assembly. That's all hieroglyphics now, but I came in with a real mindset that technology can improve the lives of people, and this is the evolution of that improvement. 

How do we continue to pay for goods and services, and how do we invest in a real way, particularly in those unbanked communities? Who would have thought many, many generations ago when we were trading for items, trading goats and cows to barter and systems, that one day we would be talking about credit cards, talking about dollars, bills and coins? 

That same evolution is here right now. The naysayers and the DNA of naysayers of yesteryears, they are the DNA of naysayers of these times as well, but the visionary of yesteryears that saw one day we can have an evolution of paying for goods and services and savings and investments can meet a moment like this. 

We're on the precipice of changing how we pay for goods and services globally, and you are the pioneers for that, and you deserve to give yourselves a hand for that. We embrace technology in this administration. We don't run away from it. First mayor in the history of this country that took his first three paychecks in Bitcoin, and I remember when we did it, they all laughed at me. Reporters mocked me. They all said, “What is he talking about?” And I keep telling them over and over again, who's laughing now? 

My investment has paid off. But I not only did it for the economic values and benefits, I did it because this position as mayor is both symbolic and substantive. The substantive issues are to show people how to invest, to go after unbanked communities, to keep us safe, to educate our children, to build affordable housing, to break records on employment, to have bond raters increase our bonds. 

Those are the substantive things, but the symbolism is important. This is the mayor of the greatest city on the globe, and if the mayor of the greatest city on the globe is willing to talk about blockchain, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency, and willing to talk about cyber wallets, is willing to engage in this conversation, it is going to compel people to do what many of you have been doing for a long time, and you were punished for doing it. 

Look how they treated you. If we're honest in the conversation, you were audited. Many of you lost some of your profits. You were harassed. You were demonized. You were treated as though you were the enemy instead of the believers. But you withstood it. Your resiliency is admirable, and it will all pay off because everyone is going to come around and understand these are different days and different times. 

And so that's what this summit is about, and we want to continue to ensure that this city is a center of innovation. From skyscrapers to subways to our wildest dreams have become the world's everyday reality, and we're going to embrace technologies today and use them for the future of our tomorrows. 

The age of tokenization, which includes crypto and blockchain and other fintech innovations, that age is here, and we're going to continue to move forward with it. It's going to come with an immense opportunity to grow our economy, and I'm a big believer as we watch the Knicks get ready to finish in the playoffs. 

You got to find a marquee player, someone you can build a team around, someone that you can continue to watch it expand and grow. I found that marquee player in my chief technology officer, Matt Fraser. When others say no, he says yes. When others say we can't do, he says we will do. When others build barriers, he tear down walls to get it done, and we are going to push forward in the excitement of the future with his vision and his entire team. 

As I said last week, my goal remains the same as it was day one as mayor, making New York City the crypto capital of the globe. To help us get there, nothing is more appalling and insulting than to ignore people who were in the field previously and believe that you are reinventing the wheel instead of ensuring the wheel rolls down every community and every block. 

This is our announcement that we will be creating a digital asset advisory council to bring fintech jobs and investment right here to the Big Apple, and we're going to ask the rank and file to come from among you to help us say to government, “Get out of the way, allow it to grow and prosper by going to those who have been in this field for many years.”

In a few weeks, we'll be announcing the chair of this council and with key policy recommendations to help ensure that we use this technology in the right way. This is not about chasing memes or trends. We want to use the technology of tomorrow to better serve New Yorkers today. We have experts right here, and they are going to help us navigate solutions that serve our city. 

We're lucky to have this type of human capital right here in the City of New York. You've been hiding in the shadows, afraid to come out during the day. Come out now. You can prosper in this great city. We're also looking at the power of blockchain and how it can be used to manage sensitive information like our vital records. Bringing blockchain security capabilities to the city means that birth certificates and death records can remain private but accessible to New Yorkers and their next of kin. 

We are exploring whether certain city services and city taxes can be paid via cryptocurrency. We are committed to making crypto and blockchain part of the New York City landscape. That is why we have brought the best and the brightest together for this summit to help us chart the path forward and hear from you directly. 

Last week, we welcomed two new tech companies to New York City, Figure Firm and Traction and Scale. They're joining our world-class roster of crypto talent and resources here in the five boroughs. We're going to work with our tech companies from startups to global giants to create a friendly environment that helps them succeed. 

We need your help to lobby Albany to tell them there are serious and important things that could be done on our state level so we don't prevent the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry to grow in this city. We can't hold back the opportunities that are in front of us and we cannot be afraid of the future and what it brings. 

We want to bring jobs of the future to our city today. That means supporting the development of a more diverse, equitable, inclusive tech ecosystem. We must embrace this emerging technology and build on the success of our economy. 

Unemployment has gone down under this administration, particularly in communities of color, by 20 percent. We have broken the job records eleven times. We continue to break our own record over and over again because we're up to newness. So what are we saying? We're saying if you're in the crypto, blockchain, Web3, or the fintech space, New York is open for business. 

The future of tech is happening right here in the city and we hope you can join us in this process. We want to build out our educational institutions. Every young person in the DOE should know about blockchain and crypto. They should know about this new form of paying for goods and services. 

This is an exciting opportunity and an exciting time. I can't help but to feel that in some way, in some place, I'm living out my dream. I've become the Captain Kirk of New York. We're going into boundaries that have never been before. So I'm looking for my Spock. 

I'm looking for all the other people that want to be on the USS Enterprise New York. Let's make this happen. Let's make sure we move forward in the right direction.