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New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he will create a digital advisory council to attract jobs and investment to the Big Apple and position it as the “crypto capital of the globe.”

“This is not about chasing memes or trends,” Adams told the inaugural New York City Crypto Summit on May 20. “We want to use the technology of tomorrow to better serve New Yorkers today.”

“We have experts right here, and they are going to help us navigate solutions that serve our city,” he added. “The age of tokenization, which includes crypto and blockchain and other fintech innovations, that age is here, and we’re going to continue to move forward with it.”

Adams didn’t share further details on the advisory group, but said a council chair and key policy recommendations would follow in the next few weeks.

We're taking the next step in becoming the Crypto Capitol of the WORLD, hosting our city's first-ever Crypto and Digital Assets Summit! Join us LIVE as we get started: https://t.co/iwO6ThkaSB

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) May 20, 2025

On May 12, Adams announced financial services company Figure and private equity firms Traction and Scale would be assisting the city in its crypto efforts.

New York City will also be exploring whether certain services and taxes can be paid via crypto, according to Adams, along with using blockchain tech to manage sensitive information such as birth certificates and death records.

“Bringing blockchain security capabilities to the city means that birth certificates and death records can remain private but accessible to New Yorkers and their next of kin,” Adams said.

“We want to bring jobs of the future to our city today. That means supporting the development of a more diverse, equitable, inclusive tech ecosystem. We must embrace this emerging technology and build on the success of our economy,” he added.

Crypto legislation proposed in New York 

New York State lawmakers have already introduced several bills to regulate crypto. In April, Assemblyman Clyde Vanel introduced a bill to amend the state’s financial law to allow New York State agencies to accept crypto as payment. 

However, the legislation is yet to reach the state’s full House or Senate.

New York state Senator James Sanders Jr proposed the Blockchain Study Act in February, which would create a crypto task force to investigate the current state of crypto in the State. It has yet to advance past the House. 

Related: Wintermute opens New York office, citing improved US crypto rules

Adams made digital assets a large part of his policy platform after assuming office in January 2022 and announced a plan to accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin (BTC).

He was indicted on corruption charges over alleged illegal donations from the Turkish government, but Justice Department officials stepped in and directed local authorities to intervene. The case was dismissed with prejudice on April 2, meaning it can’t be reopened.

An increasing number of US states are also working on crypto-related legislation, with at least 18 considering bills to establish a strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Two states, New Hampshire and Arizona, have successfully passed the legislation, according to Bitcoin Reserve Monitor.

Magazine: Crypto City: Guide to New York

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued crypto company Unicoin and three executives on Tuesday night on fraud charges, saying the company raised over $100 million for tokens that were not actually backed by the real estate its executives claimed.

The SEC sued Unicoin, CEO Alexander Konanykhin, former board chair Maria Moschini, senior vice president and general counsel Richard Devlin and former chief investment officer and investor relations officer Alejandro Dominguez on securities law violations,

Among its allegations, the SEC said Unicoin never actually owned the real estate properties it told investors it had acquired, and that those properties' values were inflated.

"For example, between September 2023 and January 2024, the Promoting Defendants announced acquisitions of properties in Argentina, Thailand, Antigua, and the Bahamas, purportedly with appraised values totaling more than of $1.4 billion; in fact, the majority of those transactions never closed and the actual combined value of the four properties was no more than $300 million," the complaint said.

The defendants also "overstated the Company's sales" of its rights certificates, suggesting in social media posts and to investors that it had raised far more funds than it actually had, the SEC alleged. While Unicoin claimed it had made $3 billion in sales by June 2024, it actually never sold more than $110 million in its rights certificates, according to the complaint.

Moreover, Unicoin advertised its rights certificates, including by promising outsized returns of up to 9 million percent, the SEC alleged, pointing to marketing efforts on taxi cabs, ferries, "office building elevator screens," digital billboards, coasters, television programs, news websites and public wi-fi kiosks.

"Additional examples of the Promoting Defendants’ statements include: (a) social media and website posts that touted potential returns of 9,000,000% based on bitcoin’s 9,000,000% growth in the past 10 years and told investors to 'take advantage of the early days of Unicoin and get them today,' highlighting that 'Bitcoin experienced a tremendous rise in value, transforming early adopters into millionaires, and even billionaires,'" the filing said.

Read more: Unicoin CEO: Why Are We Still Under the SEC’s Gun?

Unicoin received a Wells notice from the SEC last December, informing the company that the regulator — then under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler — intended to file securities fraud charges. Last month, Konanykhin sent a letter to Unicoin’s shareholders, informing them that the company had rebuffed the SEC’s attempt to settle the charges, rejecting what he described as an “ultimatum” to attend a settlement negotiation meeting by April 18.

“We declined to show up,” Konanykhin told CoinDesk in an April interview, adding that the SEC had made certain pre-meeting demands he deemed “unacceptable” and claiming that the SEC’s probe had caused “multi-billion-dollar damages” to the company.

Read more: Unicoin CEO Reject’s SEC’s Attempt to Settle Enforcement Probe

Neither Konanykhin nor a spokesperson for Unicoin responded to CoinDesk’s request for comment by press time. In a press release shared earlier this year in response to a Wall Street Journal article, a spokesperson said, "Unicoin, the only fully U.S.-registered, U.S.-regulated, U.S.-audited, and U.S.-publicly reporting cryptocurrency company, has consistently complied with all regulations."

According to court documents, the SEC is seeking disgorgement and civil penalties.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged crypto platform Unicoin and three of its executives, alleging they made false and misleading statements about its crypto assets that raised $100 million from investors.

The SEC said on May 20 that it charged Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini, and former investment chief Alex Dominguez with misleading investors about certificates that conveyed rights to receive Unicoin tokens and stock.

Mark Cave, associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, claimed the trio “exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings.” 

Related: SEC crypto task force to release first report 'in the next few months'

“The real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusory,” Cave added.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in a Manhattan federal court, charged Unicoin and the three executives with various securities laws violations and asks for permanent injunctive relief, along with paying back the allegedly ill-gotten gains.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive is looking to build its Bitcoin holdings by purchasing distressed Bitcoin claims at a discount, starting with claims tied to 75,000 Bitcoin at the bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox.

Strive said in a May 20 regulatory filing that it partnered with 117 Castell Advisory Group LLC to target claims to Bitcoin (BTC) that have received definitive legal rulings but are still awaiting distribution.

The company said buying the claims would allow it to purchase Bitcoin at a discount and grow its Bitcoin per share ratio ahead of its planned reverse merger with Asset Entities — which is expected to be completed sometime mid this year.

Strive hasn’t disclosed any Bitcoin holdings but claims it will face fewer restrictions on purchasing Bitcoin than companies going public through Special Purpose Acquisition Company mergers.

Strive said it would need shareholder approval to pursue Mt. Gox claims. The company said it intends to lodge a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to outline the full terms of the proposed transaction. A proxy statement would then be sent to shareholders to seek their approval.

Strive would need to obtain shareholder approval relatively soon, as Mt. Gox is expected to fully repay its creditors by Oct. 31.

The Japan-based Mt. Gox was the largest Bitcoin exchange before it collapsed in 2014 from a security breach that resulted in the theft of approximately 750,000 Bitcoin.

Strive’s pivot to become a Bitcoin treasury company reflects a broader industry trend as more firms look to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets as a long-term strategic asset.

Related: Bitcoin ETFs bought 6x more than BTC miners produced last week

Twenty One Capital is another newly launched Bitcoin treasury firm that has received backing from the likes of Tether, SoftBank and Cantor Fitzgerald. The Jack Mallers-led firm plans to launch with 42,000 Bitcoin once it completes a blank-check merger with Cantor Equity Partners.

Asset Entities shares rise again on Mt. Gox plans

Asset Entities (ASST), a social media marketing company that Strive announced it would merge with on May 7 to create a Bitcoin investment company, has seen its shares close May 20 trading up 18.2% to $7.74, Google Finance data shows.

The latest share price bump brings its market cap to $122.1 million, and ASST is now up 1,170% since Strive announced its merger plan.

Strive is expected to own 94.2% of the combined entity once the reverse merger is complete, while Asset Entities will hold the remaining 5.8%.

The merged companies will be named Strive and Asset Entities, and will still trade under the ASST ticker.

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee