Miami is collaborating with Ethereum developers to put city services on the blockchain

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez turned heads earlier this year when he said he wanted the Florida city to add bitcoin to its treasury. 

Now, Suarez is pushing a commitment for the city to explore crypto by turning his attention to Ethereum. According to a new episode of The Scoop, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin and Suarez announced that they have embarked on a new collaborative project focused on city services.

To be sure, it's early days for the initiative, but the two have met on two occasions now and talks about the scope of the initiative continue.

"We're trying to come up with a project that goes through the foundation and directly with Ethereum that we can do with the city," said Suarez. "We want the city directly involved in a way that demonstrates the applicability of the software so that we can continue to provide better services for our residents."

There's a bit of history underpinning the developments: it was in Miami that Buterin, in 2014, first unveiled Ethereum to the world during a presentation at the Bitcoin Miami conference. 

According to Suarez, decentralized information systems are becoming a priority for Miami, especially with looming security concerns like the upcoming hurricane season.

During this week's episode, Suarez and Buterin, along with Cryptex founders Preston Van Loon and Joe Sticco, also discussed:

• How the Ethereum ecosystem can help create jobs in Miami
• The ways in which decentralized systems would benefit the city, like the transfer of title records for real estate
• Why now is the time to start building a project like this despite Ethereum's scalability issues
• How Florida is trying to join Wyoming in becoming the next regulatory bastion for crypto.

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Bakkt and Kraken.

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