New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams says schools should teach about cryptocurrency

Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Eric Adams (center).

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

• New York's Eric Adams said in a CNN interview he thinks schools should start teaching crypto technology to its students.
• The comments come days after Adams said he would accept his first few paychecks as New York City's mayor in bitcoin.
• Part of the incoming mayor's policy platform includes transforming the city into a bitcoin hub for the US crypto community.

New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams may not be sworn into office until 2022, but he's already taking a swing at policy changes around bitcoin and blockchains.

Adams wants schools to teach children about cryptocurrency technology, he said in an interview with CNN "State of the Union," as a way to increase young people's awareness of how bitcoin and cryptocurrency works.

"Cryptocurrency is a new way for paying for goods and services," Adams said. "We must open our schools to teach the technology, to teach this new way of thinking when it comes down to paying for goods and services."

Teaching cryptocurrency in schools isn't necessarily new, with students from local high schools to the university-level beginning to integrate crypto topics into their curriculum. Adams did not specify at which education level he would like to see crypto enter the curriculum.

However, the push toward a more crypto-friendly New York City also comes with criticism. Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and a former member on the Council of Economic Advisors under the Obama Administration, said in a tweet that Adams' crypto plan was a "bad economic strategy for NYC."

"It also seems like a conflict of interest," Furman said. "Like a mayor announcing, 'I'm buying a lot of Amazon stock and then going to put in places policies to benefit Amazon."

Adam's statements about crypto in schools came a few days after he commented in a tweet thread to crypto financier Anthony Pompliano that he would accept his first three payments as mayor in bitcoin. Adams attempted to outdo Miami's mayor Francis Suarez, who previously said he would accept his next paycheck in bitcoin, as part of his ongoing platform to turn the Big Apple into a center for innovation and crypto.

Adams also responded to whether he would encourage New York City merchants to begin adopting cryptocurrency in their transactions, saying, "We are going to look at it, and we are going to tread carefully. We are going to get it right."

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