‘Bitcoin Mayor’ Eric Adams Establishes NYC Digital Assets and Blockchain Office

New York City Mayor Eric Adams established the Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology on Tuesday, adding to his pro-crypto record as he rounds out his term in office.

The crypto-centric office will operate within the office of the mayor and be led by a director appointed by Mayor Adams, who will ultimately report to the city’s chief technology officer.

“Our first-in-the-nation Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain will help make us the global capital of digital assets,” Adams posted on X. “This new mayoral office is going to help us stay ahead of the curve, grow our economy, and attract world-class talent.”

Effective immediately via the signing of mayoral executive order #57, the office is designed to support the growth of digital assets and blockchain within New York City while encouraging investment in the city by the crypto industry. 

“While we’ve been planning to launch this office for months, we wanted to make sure we got this right and interviewed extensively to fill the role of executive director prior to this announcement,” press secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus told Decrypt.

“Once we found a candidate who could execute our vision for this office, we went through our review process and made the announcement at the appropriate time,” she added. 

To lead the office, Mayor Adams selected former digital assets and blockchain policy advisor, Moises Rendon. Rendon has been serving in the New York City Office of Innovation and Technology since 2024.

Under his leadership, the office will first create a commission of digital asset leaders to help guide the office’s work.

“Mayor Adams’ creation of this new office proves that the future is now for digital assets and blockchain in New York City,” Rendon said in a statement. “I am honored to lead the nation’s first municipal office dedicated to successfully and responsibly deploying these technologies.”

The Digital Assets Office creation follows Adams’ launch of a digital assets advisory in May, similarly designed to bring investment and talent from crypto companies to New York City as the mayor sought to make the city the “Crypto Capital of the World.” 

At the time, he indicated that the city was exploring using blockchain technology for birth and death records, among other things. 

Adams famously accepted his first few paychecks for his mayoral duties in Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2022, earning him the moniker of “Bitcoin Mayor” in the process. Since then, both assets have risen substantially in price, leading to Adams poking skeptics with quips like, “Who’s laughing now?” 

In May, Adams called for the end to New York’s BitLicense, a regulatory license famed for its strict compliance regulations. 

Mayor Adams will leave office on January 1 as he is no longer seeking reelection, having dropped out of the race in late September.

Predictors on Myriad currently give Zohran Mamdani around an 88% chance of winning the November election and assuming the office in January. That matches the odds of Polymarket’s NYC Mayoral Election market, which gives Andrew Cuomo the next-best chance of winning at around 10%.