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The Santa Monica City Council has unanimously approved the creation of a Bitcoin Office. Proposed by Vice Mayor Lana Negrete and in partnership with The Proof of Workforce Foundation, the program aims to boost Bitcoin education, economic recovery, and tourism, operating at no cost to the city. The program followed the vice mayor’s visit to El Salvador which legalized bitcoin as a legal tender.
The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved the creation of a Bitcoin Office during its July 9 meeting, marking a national first for such digital currency initiatives. This pilot program, proposed by Vice Mayor Lana Negrete, will operate at no cost to the city in partnership with The Proof of Workforce Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The office aims to advance Bitcoin education, economic recovery, and tourism. Santa Monica is a popular coastal city in California, located on Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles County.
The Santa Monica Bitcoin Office will focus on educating residents, students, and businesses about Bitcoin, identifying new economic opportunities, and exploring environmentally sustainable bitcoin mining using renewable energy. Negrete emphasized the initiative’s role in economic recovery and combating negative perceptions, particularly in areas like Downtown Santa Monica.
Negrete was quoted by Santa Monica Daily Press as saying:
This is not about the asset or the commodity, it is truly about educating.
The vice mayor added: “We have been a leader in so many things … we are currently battling a lot of negative news (and) a retail climate that’s really hard for some of our areas like our Downtown Santa Monica area. We’re consistently looking at how can we bring back economic recovery, I think these are some interesting, out of the box ideas we’ve been discussing.”
Public comments ranged from enthusiastic support, highlighting the potential for innovation, to cautionary notes on the risks associated with bitcoin investment. The council discussed potential legal risks and emphasized the need to clearly communicate that the city does not promote investing in BTC. The program is reportedly modeled after El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office, which Negrete visited in 2023. El Salvador, which legalized bitcoin as a legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in 2021, has been accumulating and earning BTC consistently.
