New York City mayor Eric Adams, known for his humility and low profile, delivered his latest message to his haters this week—this time on the subject of Bitcoin.
“Remember when y’all laughed at me when I first got my Bitcoin?” Adams said to a room of reporters during a press conference on Tuesday. “Who’s laughing now?”
Adams then laughed heartily, before adding: “Go look at my Bitcoin now.”
In early 2022, Adams took his first three paychecks as New York City mayor in Bitcoin and Ethereum—a sum of crypto that would have equaled roughly $32,000 at the time, according to publicly available data.
Since then, Bitcoin has more than doubled in price, to over $95,000 at writing. Ethereum has climbed some 40% in the same period, to $3,781.
“You all mocked me,” Adams said Tuesday, before adopting a falsetto voice to imitate such alleged naysayers: “‘You’re taking your first three paychecks in Bitcoin, what’s wrong with you?’”
“Now you wish you would have done it,” the mayor said in his own voice, before laughing again.
As with many subjects, Adams’ relationship to crypto is not without controversy. A year after taking a chunk of his salary home in BTC and ETH, the mayor landed in hot water for failing to disclose his crypto holdings in a mandatory report filed with the city’s Conflict of Interest Board.
Since then, Adams’ legal troubles have increased dramatically. In September, the politician became the first mayor in New York City’s history to be indicted on criminal charges while in office.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused him of receiving luxury travel accommodations and other perks from Turkish government officials and businessmen in exchange for favorable treatment of the country’s interests in New York.
In the months following his indictment, Adams has adamantly refused numerous calls for his resignation. He also begun cozying up to fellow crypto advocate Donald Trump, who will assume the U.S. presidency—and control over the DOJ—on January 20.
“I made it clear that I’m not going to be warring with this administration. I’m going to be working with this administration,” Adams, a Democrat, said of Trump during Tuesday’s press conference.