Missouri mayor suggests distributing at least $1,000 in Bitcoin to residents

Jayson Stewart, the mayor of Cool Valley, Missouri, hinted that residents of the city may be required to hold (HODL) these funds for five years.
The mayor of Cool Valley, Missouri, said he is looking into giving out more than $1 million in Bitcoin (BTC) to the city’s 1,500 residents.
In an interview with St. Louis news outlet KSDK on Thursday, Mayor Jayson Stewart said he hopes "every household in my city will receive some level of bitcoin." Stewart said the funding could come from a few "donors who are very supportive of this initiative," but did not rule out using funds from the government's pandemic relief response to establish the venture.
Stewart did not specify how much Bitcoin the city would be able to distribute to each resident, but said it could be as much as $1,000 — about $1.5 million — over 30 BTC at the time of the move. However, he also hinted that Cool Valley residents might have to hold onto the funds for five years.
“My biggest concern is that someone will sell their Bitcoin right away to pay off their car debt, and then when the price of Bitcoin hits $500,000 or so, they’ll regret it very much,” Stewart said.
He added:
“I think, fundamentally, this is the best way to meet everyone’s basic need — to get Bitcoin into the hands of the people who can use it the most.”
Stewart’s Bitcoin initiative is similar to one proposed by 2020 U.S. presidential election candidate Andrew Yang. Yang proposed providing every American with a $1,000 per month universal basic income (UBI). While he failed to secure the Democratic nomination, UBI has frequently been in the spotlight in the media and appears to have strong support.
Lawmakers in other U.S. cities have also taken pro-cryptocurrency policy stances. Francis Suarez, mayor of Miami since 2017, has proposed allowing residents to pay taxes in Bitcoin, saying his goal is for the city to have “the most advanced crypto laws.” (Cointelegraph)