As mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, former wrestler Glen Jacob, stage name Kane, is looking into Bitcoin and Litecoin to help his municipality.
Since Q4 2020, several high-profile mainstream public companies, including Tesla, have invested in cryptocurrency. But municipalities doing the same are thin on the ground. Does Jacob’s interest signal a change in that?
Is Bitcoin The Answer to Balancing The County Books?
Performers who turned politicians are not an infrequent affair. Prominent figures that did so include Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jerry Springer.
Since retiring from the WWE, Jacob announced his intent to run for the mayorship of Knox County as a Republican. Following his 66% – 34% win over Democratic opponent Linda Haney, he took office in August 2018.
Jacob advocates for more personal responsibility and less government intervention. An example of this was his response to the mask mandate, in which he said people should be free to decide for themselves. At the same time, he called out the terrible government overreach the mandate represents.
“I worry that one-size-fits-all mandates such as this set a terrible precedent for government overreach, are difficult to enforce, can cause conflict between the authorities and the public when enforced, and, as written, this order places enforcement responsibilities on private businesses.”
He recently tweeted about a meeting he had discussing Bitcoin and Litecoin. In attendance was the Litecoin Foundation Project Director, David Schwartz.
At this stage, it’s unknown how, or even if, Knox County will utilize cryptocurrency. Only that Jacob is excited about the future. He also referenced crypto mining in his tweet.
I had a great meeting today with @DaddyCool1991 and @SatoshiSouth to talk about #BTC #LTC. With our innovative economy and mining already happening on a large scale, the future is exciting!
— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) April 20, 2021
Tennesse made the list of top five states for Bitcoin mining due to its cheap electricity. Mining firm Bitmain also has a presence there.
Miami Plans to Become a Crypto Hub
While it’s still early days for Knox County, under the leadership of Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami has already laid out its plans to become the crypto capital of the world. Achieving this would require tech firms, in particular blockchain companies, to set up there.
Suarez said he’s in the process of changing the local regulatory framework to model Wyoming’s crypto-friendly approach to encourage this.
Local officials are also considering giving city workers the option to be paid in Bitcoin and for local fees and taxes to be paid in cryptocurrency. There is also talk about the city buying Bitcoin as a treasury strategy.
On his motivation for doing this, Suarez said:
“I think, more than anything, Bitcoin presents an opportunity. The cryptocurrency space as a whole is a rapidly growing industry and as of today, it doesn’t really have a “home.” I want to make Miami the “capitol of capital” and that includes Bitcoin.”
While few municipalities are jumping on the Bitcoin train, Jacob’s interest may signal burgeoning attention at the local level.
Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
