Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a vocal proponent of cryptocurrencies who has even taken his salary in Bitcoin, announced on February 2, 2022, that the City of Miami received its first disbursement from the Miamicoin project, totaling $5.25 million. "This is a historic moment for our city to collaborate with an innovative project that creates resources for our city through innovation, not taxation," Suarez tweeted. The news drew immediate praise from Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali and growth head Patrick Stanley, who called it "just the beginning." Miamicoin is built on the Stacks protocol, a smart-contract layer on top of Bitcoin.
MIA Price Freefall: 88% Down from All-Time High
While the mayor celebrated the disbursement, the MIA token's market performance told a different story. The cryptocurrency reached its all-time high of $0.0552 on September 20, 2021, but has since plummeted over 88% to around $0.0063-0.0069. Unlike many other crypto assets that rebounded from the 2021 market correction, MIA remains stagnant. With a circulating supply of 936 million tokens and a total cap of 3.84 billion, 30% of staking rewards are allocated to the city. However, MIA suffers from extreme illiquidity: it is traded only on Okcoin, where the USD/MIA pair captures 95.87% of daily volume. The 24-hour trading volume is a mere $210,951.
City Coins Expansion: Philadelphia and New York Next
Despite MIA's poor performance, the project's parent organization, City Coins, is pushing ahead with similar initiatives in other U.S. cities. Philadelphia's Chief Information Officer Mark Wheeler stated, "Philly is ready to proceed," while New York's website allows users to register interest for staking. These city-based tokens, also built on Stacks, aim to generate revenue for local governments through staking rewards. However, the MIA experience underscores significant risks: lack of utility, limited exchange listings, and speculative value could lead to similar outcomes for Philadelphia Coin and New York City Coin.
As of press time, neither Suarez nor City Coins have commented on the 88% price decline. Market observers warn that without tangible real-world adoption and broader exchange support, such municipal tokens may face a high risk of becoming worthless.