A
candidate running for mayor within the city of Lewisville, TX campaigned to
finance the police force in the area using a cryptocurrency he refers to as
“Blue Coin”.
Blue Coin
Currently,
Winston Edmonson is running a campaign
to raise money for the local police department and provides his strategy as an
alternative to increasing taxes on Lewisville, Texas citizens to support the
struggling police force.
Blue
Coin’s economic model permits citizens to buy the coins from the city which
then can be spent in participating area companies. A tiny percentage of the
coins that are spent in stores could be donated by the companies to the area
police department. Winston Edmonson describes this transaction as a voluntary type
of tax.
Divided response
His
proposal caused a mixed reaction from the Lewisville population.
Jason
Dermott, Hat Tricks owner, spoke to NBCDFW, and said ‘police officers deserve
all that and more’.
Also, he spoke positively on having a city-regulated currency which works for
the benefit of the community.
But,
Jason Tyra, a Dallas-based CPA who has a specialty in cryptocurrencies, made an
estimation that it’d be difficult for this project to be a success. For it to work,
Tyra felt that a substantial percentage of the city’s businesses and residents
would have to participate.
Part
of Jason’s skepticism is founded upon his idea that there won’t be enough early
adopters supporting the area police case for this project to be a success.
Nevertheless,
he still thinks that this project has merit, and states that cryptocurrency
projects like this are going to spearhead fintech development’s future.
The
Lewisville mayoral race is set to take place on May 5, 2018. If Winston Edmonson
is a success in the election and moves forward with his proposal, it’d be a significant
milestone within the mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies.