Hizzoner has given himself a pay cut.
Mayor Eric Adams could be down about $600 — or 3 percent – in his cryptocurrency portfolio, according to a Post analysis.
The cryptocurrency-curious politician promised to put his first three paychecks — after taxes and other deductions — into the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Adams’ buys were a bid to boost New York’s crypto scene over Miami, whose mayor made a similar promise.
City Hall declined to share the breakdown of his purchases, or say whether has bought or sold any crypto since cashing his first three checks.
However, Adams said during an unrelated Manhattan press conference Saturday that he doesn’t regret betting his paycheck on cryptocurrency — and plans to roll the dice on more Bitcoin investments in the future.
“Trust me, it’s going to bounce back!” said Adams, laughing. “When I invest in my stocks, they go down, I purchase; they go up. That’s how investments are. You wanna buy low, sell high and so, trust me; we are going to be alright.”
Assuming he split his first three checks evenly between the two coins, and bought at the day’s average price, Adams would be down about $592 as of Saturday morning.
That loss is about 3 percent of his $17,864.40 cash investment — the total if he put his entire first three checks, after taxes but before other deductions — into crypto on Jan. 21, Feb. 4, and Feb. 18. The crypto value would have fallen to $17,271.54.
The mayor earns $258,750 per year — or about $5,900 per biweekly check, after taxes but before other credits or deductions.
He made the Jan. 21 purchase through a direct deposit to Coinbase, a publicly-traded crypto exchange, City Hall said at the time.
Bitcoin is down about 18 percent since the start of the year. Ethereum is down an eye-watering 31 percent. But it’s been a volatile few months, with sharp ups and downs, and Adams’ first purchase in January came when coin prices were very low — so even as he lost money on his next two purchases, his early gains partially offset those later losses.
Hizzoner might have been better off just investing the old-fashioned way.
The S&P 500 — a stock index that tracks the performance of the largest 500 companies publicly-listed in the United States — was only down 12 percent since the start of the year. And, unlike Bitcoin, it pays dividends.
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts.