Christophe De Beukelaer, a Brussels MP, announced that he will take his full 2022 salary in bitcoin in an effort to raise awareness about the digital currency in Europe and spark conversations about its use in different parts of the world. society. “I am the first in Europe, but not in the world, to want to put cryptocurrencies in the spotlight with such an approach,” said De Beukelaer in a blog post. “I think it is not too late for Brussels and Belgium to “We have some great companies in the field already, but it is time to position ourselves clearly and create a real ecosystem.” A wave of politicians recently made headlines with similar announcements, but although most of these pioneers came from North America, the initiative is taking the East, the Brussels delegate said his move is designed to shake up Europe to the potential benefits of Bitcoin in the region as the US and Canada have so far led with clear moves to move forward on adoption, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez set out last year on a mission to turn his city into the US capital of Bitcoin after pushing welcoming legislation that would allow city workers to get paid in the digital currency and citizens to pay city fees in bitcoin.Despite the proposed laws stalling, Suarez took the initiative to allow indirect payments in bitcoin by converting his salary into BTC through the Lightning payment app Strike.Shortly after, Suarez took a big step In order to attract the cryptocurrency industry to his city, New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined the friendly competition by announcing similar measures, mostly around the intent to become an innovation hub for Bitcoin-related products and services. Adams has also converted a portion of his salary into bitcoin. De Beukelaer said getting paid in bitcoin during this year is a means of drawing attention to the peer-to-peer currency in the old continent, which, despite housing notable companies in the industry, poses risks. lacking behind the North American markets. The Brussels delegate said in the blog post that in addition to sparking interest in cryptocurrency from policymakers, he plans to show “confidence in this new world” and encourage “deep reflection on our monetary system.” “Monetary policy is a political topic… that has been left in the hands of technocrats for too long,” the blog post reads. “All economists warn us that we are entering a very risky period: loss of confidence, inflation, banknote printing like never before, digital euro… These topics, however, never come up in the democratic debate. What is currency? What’s the point? What role for a Central Bank? I want to place these subjects on the public square in 2022.”
Source link