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Missouri Mayor Pledges $1,000 in Bitcoin to Each Household in His Town
A fiscal stimulus paid in cryptocurrency
Mayor Jayson Stewart isn’t your typical politician. The 1,500 residents of his town are likely used to his unconventional views but likely believe he has their best interests at heart.
In September 2020 he was the second Missouri Mayor to pardon municipal marijuana offenders. In recent weeks he’s also taken a bold stance regarding Bitcoin — a cryptocurrency that he believes stands for the American ideals of freedom and liberty.
He has pledged to gift $1,000 in Bitcoin to every household in his town.
Following the lead of El Salvador
Many have made comparisons between Mayor Stewart’s plan and recent events in the country of El Salvador.
On September 7th 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to formally accept Bitcoin as legal tender (alongside the US Dollar). In a nation where an estimated 70% of citizens are unbanked (meaning they don’t have access to a bank account or basic banking facilities), the move was enabled everyone within the country to be able to send and receive money digitally, regardless of their prior economic status.
A significant percentage of its population live overseas (mainly in the USA) and send money home — where such transactions previously relied upon costly money transfer services like Western Union, Bitcoin has immediately provided a low-cost alternative.
Since the adoption of Bitcoin as a currency, El Salvadorans are able to hold the cryptocurrency and use it to send and receive funds via digital wallet apps on their smartphones, which almost all citizens have.
To kick start the project, each person was gifted $30 worth of Bitcoin by the government. Bitcoin has fluctuated in value since, but as at October 24th that $30 would be worth around $39.60 — an increase in excess of 30%.
The haters and detractors
While many critics of Bitcoin (and cryptocurrency more generally) are keen to point out that its value fluctuates wildly both up and down, its recent gain demonstrates its enormous potential as an…
