Crypto is taking Miami by storm

What’s in it for the rest of South Florida?

For South Florida cryptocurrency fans, 2021 was an exhilarating year, as Miami positioned itself as a would-be capital for the industry nationwide.

The city hosted what was billed as the largest crypto conference ever, opened the door for its own coin, bearing the city’s name no less, and welcomed an array of companies that moved their headquarters or set up outlier offices in Miami’s Brickell Avenue financial district.

“Cities really only have two choices,” Mayor Francis X. Suarez said at a Bloomberg-sponsored event in Miami earlier this month. “They can pretend it doesn’t exist … or they can face those realities, embrace that disruption, embrace the change.”

Whether other South Florida cities and counties will follow Miami’s lead in the coming year remains to be seen.

Despite wild swings in the price of Bitcoin, the groundbreaking digital asset, or perhaps because of them, the region’s consumers have eagerly sought to get a piece of the action for the last several years.

According to the Pew Research Center, an estimated 16% of the U.S. population holds or once held cryptocurrencies. Six years ago, the figure was 1%. Crypto-investors have come to favor the asset because it operates independently of banks or government regulators. Coins are typically stored in virtual wallets, including online services that resemble bank accounts.

In Broward and Palm Beach Counties, a growing number of local businesses, from real estate and yacht brokers to hair salons and charter jet companies, have been accepting Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, and Bitcoin ATMs have popped up throughout the tri-county region.

But recently, local charities have shown interest, Broward investment firms are shoring up their crypto cred and local governments are brainstorming on how to take best advantage of the new currency’s qualities.