Crypto losses bite Adams
Mayor Adams may have some buyer’s remorse.
After fashioning himself as a cryptocurrency booster on the campaign trail last year, Adams converted his first three City Hall paychecks into Bitcoin and Ethereum, two popular digital currencies that have dropped precipitously in value as part of a massive market selloff that began May 4.
As a result of the market plunge, Hizzoner (photo) has lost upward of $5,800 on his much-hyped crypto investment, according to a Daily News analysis.
With an annual wage of $258,750, Adams collects bi-weekly paychecks worth $9,924.66 before taxes and other deductions, according to a City Hall official.
The official declined to specify Adams’ deductions — but for the sake of calculating an estimated loss on the mayor’s crypto investment, The News ballparked his tax rate by using Smart Asset’s digital calculator.
The calculator, which takes federal, state and local taxes into account, estimated that someone living in New York City with Adams’ annual wage would have a 40.6% tax rate. That means Adams’ take-home pay on his bi-weekly paycheck would be $6,405, according to Smart Asset.
That, in turn, means Adams has dumped an estimated $19,215 into cryptocurrencies between his first three paychecks. As City Hall would not provide a breakdown, The News evenly divided those funds between Bitcoin and Ethereum for this calculation.
As of Thursday, the two digital currencies had respectively plummeted in value by 22% and 28% from Jan. 21 — the date of Adams’ first paycheck, which was automatically transferred into the two cryptocurrencies, according to a press release issued by his office at the time.
Based on the global crypto plunge, Adams lost an estimated $1,883.27 of his first paycheck-to-crypto conversion, according to The News’ analysis.
Adams lost another $3,889.66 from his next two crypto conversions, for a combined cash bust of $5,773 — which translates into an approximate 30% reduction of his total investment.
The crypto market hit one of its deepest lows ever this week, with a wave of sell-offs erasing more than $200 billion in value on Thursday alone.
Bitcoin got caught up in the selling. One piece of the digital currency was down to $28,551 in late Thursday afternoon trading, according to CoinDesk. Only six months ago it was over $66,000.
Fiscal watchdogs have long warned that the crypto marketplace is extremely volatile, making it susceptible to fraudulent investment scams.
Nonetheless, Adams has advocated for making New York City the “crypto capital” of the country and recently called for loosening the state’s regulations on crypto trading.
Asked if this week’s market nosedive has made Adams rethink his position on crypto, mayoral spokesman Fabien Levy said, “Simple answer is no.”