New York mayor’s bitcoin bond idea pooh-poohed by city comptroller
3 min read
“New York City will not be issuing any Bitcoin-backed bonds on my watch,” city Comptroller Brad Lander said in a press release.
Lander made his position clear after New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a speech proposing “BitBonds” at a bitcoin industry conference in Las Vegas.
There are various impediments that make bitcoin bonds impossible, Lander said, ranging from city and federal laws to his own personal opposition.
“The current federal tax law regime would most likely neither permit tax exempt financing for acquiring cryptocurrency nor permit investment gains in excess of the federally subsidized financing cost,” Lander said.
Moreover, New York City has no mechanisms to accept or spend bitcoin, and no means to convert bitcoin to U.S. dollars, Lander said.
“We have financial instruments for all other bonds. You can have tax-exempt bonds, and other bonds,” Adams said May 28 in a speech at the Bitcoin 2025 event. “It is time, for the first time in the history of this city, to have a financial instrument that is made for those who are holders of bitcoin.”
Oluwatona Campbell, a spokesperson for Lander, said the comptroller’s office has not seriously contemplated this suggestion, and the mayor’s office hasn’t asked it to do so.
“In spite of being jointly responsible for the issuance of city debt, the Comptroller’s Office has not been approached by anyone, inside or outside of the mayor’s office, about the notion of issuing debt having any relationship to cryptocurrencies of any kind,” Campbell said.
Lander also took issue with the risk of bitcoin investments.
“Cryptocurrencies are not sufficiently stable to finance our city’s infrastructure, affordable housing, or schools,” Lander said. “Proposing that New York City should open its capital planning to crypto could expose our city to new risks and erode bond buyers’ trust in our city.”
Lander is a candidate for mayor’s office in the June 24 Democratic primary. Adams, elected as a Democrat in 2021, is running for reelection as an independent.
Adams’ bitcoin bond pitch was one of several in his address at the conference. He didn’t get into the specifics of what a bitcoin bond would entail.
“I believe we need to have a BitBond, and I am going to push and fight to get a BitBond in New York, so you can do those same bond investments in New York City,” Adams said.
Adams offered no further detail, but the Bitcoin Policy Institute released a proposal on “BitBonds” for the U.S. Treasury in March.
Under that proposal, the Treasury would issue bonds with a 1% interest rate and invest 10% of the proceeds in bitcoin. When the bonds reached maturity, investors would receive the gains from the bitcoin investment up to 4.5% of their principal. Any remaining gains from the bitcoin investments would be split 50/50 between the government and bondholders.
Lander’s office was unaware of any precedent for bitcoin-backed bonds in the United States. Quincy, Massachusetts
Adams also proposed eliminating licensing requirements for bitcoin businesses and allowing people to pay taxes and fines with bitcoin.
Adams has long been a proponent of cryptocurrency. Before the bitcoin conference, Adams hosted a
“Mayor Adams was also the first American mayor to have his initial three paychecks converted into crypto to signal that New York City, under this mayor, will always embrace the technologies of tomorrow today,” said Allison Maser, deputy press secretary for Adams. “On the heels of our first-ever Digital Assets and Crypto Summit, Mayor Adams attended the 2025 Bitcoin Conference to continue building connections in this growing industry to boost our local economy, attract top talent, and inspire innovation in New York City.”
