Miami Bitcoin Faithful Feeling Better Than Miami Crypto Investors

The biterati have gathered in Miami Beach to talk business, and boy oh boy do they sound relieved now that President Grandpa has decided not to just shut this whole silly crypto-game down.

“The president’s executive order really had a change in tone recently. It was a change in tone from being negative to being balanced,” [Mike] Novogratz said Wednesday…. “The way politics are set up, we’re going to be in gridlock, but I think the chance of them really damaging things has gone way down,” he said.

As for their host city’s foray in crypto, well, things could frankly be going a bit better.

Miami is the first U.S. city to earn revenue from a city-branded cryptocurrency project, getting about $5.25 million from the launch of “MiamiCoin….” MiamiCoin began trading at around half a cent on Aug. 26 and was a little more than a quarter of a cent as of April 5, according to CoinMarketCap…. NYCCoin has also fallen from close to half a cent at the beginning of February to about a quarter of a cent….

Perhaps they’re just holding out for “Zuck bucks” take three.

Products being looked at include “social tokens” or “reputation tokens”, which could be used as rewards by users. It is also looking at “creator coins”, which could be used by influencers on Instagram…. The initiatives, led by Facebook’s financial arm, Meta Financial Technologies, follow the company’s ill-fated foray into attempting to create a global cryptocurrency, a project called Libra and later Diem, which was abandoned earlier this year after issues with US regulators….

Meta is also looking to enter the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs)….

Obviously. And maybe the bit-fanboys will even one day be able to buy something other than an NFT with them.

Bolt Financial Inc. said it agreed to acquire crypto infrastructure payments firm Wyre Payments Inc.... The two privately-owned San Francisco-based companies are seeking to provide a one-click cryptocurrency checkout system to simplify digital shopping. Bolt sells online services, while Wyre is a blockchain-based payments provider.

Regulatory Uncertainty Is a Barrier for Wider Bitcoin Adoption [WSJ]
MiamiCoin Gets Off to a Rocky Start [WSJ]
Payments Provider Bolt Financial to Buy Crypto Startup Wyre [Bloomberg]
Meta plans ‘Zuck bucks’ virtual coins for Facebook and Instagram users [Guardian]

For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, sign up for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.