Pakistan Minister of State for Crypto and Blockchain Bilal Bin Saqib is likely looking to collaborate with Wall Street.

A June 6 X post by the Pakistan Crypto Council shows that Saqib met with Brandon Lutnick, the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a global financial services firm. A separate video included in a separate post shows that he also met with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who recently said he will ensure a Bitcoin bond is launched in the city. The post reads:

“New York is Lahore.”

The meeting with Lutnick follows his firm’s recently increased interest in crypto. The two reportedly discussed “tokenization, Bitcoin mining, Pakistan’s Web3 future and avenues of collaboration.”

Cantor Fitzgerald is a global financial powerhouse founded in 1945 with headquarters in New York, focused on investment banking, fixed income, equities, real estate, SPACs and financial technology. The firm’s website notes that its investment arm manages about $14.8 billion in assets.

Related: Pakistan’s crypto envoy courts Wall Street allies

Wall Street giant Cantor deepens crypto ties

The report followed news from late April that Brandon Lutnick was reportedly partnering with SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex to create a $3 billion crypto acquisition company. In late 2024, the firm was also reported to own a 5% stake in stablecoin issuer Tether.

More recently, Cantor Fitzgerald has also partnered with Anchorage Digital and Copper, relying on them as its Bitcoin custodians and collateral managers as it launches its new digital asset financing business, targeting institutional investors.

Related: Trump-backed World Liberty Financial partners with Pakistan Crypto Council

Pakistan’s crypto friendship with the US

The announcements follow Saqib’s meeting with Robert “Bo” Hines, executive director of US President Donald Trump’s Council on Digital Assets, during a visit to the White House earlier this week. The meeting focused on cryptocurrency initiative cooperation between Pakistan and the US, including potential partnerships and future decentralized finance initiatives.

In late May, Saqib also revealed that Pakistan is moving to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. This marked a shift in the country’s stance that crypto would never be legal.

Saqib was appointed by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in late May as his special assistant on blockchain and crypto. That announcement came shortly after Pakistan allocated 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity exclusively for Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence centers.

Magazine: US risks being ‘front run’ on Bitcoin reserve by other nations: Samson Mow

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/pakistans-crypto-minister-joins-nyc-mayor-wall-street-in-bitcoin-talks/feed/ 0 40439 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/nyc-comptroller-rejects-mayor-adamss-bitbond-proposal-as-legally-and-fiscally-flawed/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/nyc-comptroller-rejects-mayor-adamss-bitbond-proposal-as-legally-and-fiscally-flawed/#respond Sat, 31 May 2025 02:30:59 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/nyc-comptroller-rejects-mayor-adamss-bitbond-proposal-as-legally-and-fiscally-flawed/

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has rejected Mayor Eric Adams’s proposal to issue municipal bonds backed by Bitcoin, calling the idea both “legally dubious and fiscally irresponsible.”

Lander, who shares responsibility for the city’s debt issuance alongside the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, made clear that the city will not pursue any crypto-backed borrowing while he remains in office.

Bitbond Battle Brews in NYC as Election Rivals Clash Over Crypto Policy

Lander said in a statement on Thursday that “Cryptocurrencies are not sufficiently stable to finance our city’s infrastructure, affordable housing, or schools,” according to a report by Bloomberg.

He added, “Proposing that New York City should open its capital planning to crypto could expose our city to new risks and erode bond buyers’ trust in our city.”

The response follows remarks made by Mayor Adams on Wednesday during his speech at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.

Addressing a crowd of crypto enthusiasts, Adams called for the creation of a “Bitbond,” expressing his intention to make New York a national leader in crypto innovation.

“We need to have a Bitbond, and I’m going to push and fight to get a Bitbond in New York,” Adams said. “If it grows in New York, it will cascade through the entire country.”

The mayor’s comments come just a week after he hosted the city’s first crypto and digital assets summit at Gracie Mansion. There, he unveiled a digital assets advisory council designed to boost fintech investment and job creation in the city.

But Lander pushed back hard on the idea. He pointed to legal and regulatory constraints that limit how municipal bonds can be issued and used. According to him, the city can only issue debt for specific public purposes and must do so in compliance with federal tax law.

“The current federal tax law regime would most likely neither permit tax-exempt financing for acquiring cryptocurrency nor permit investment gains in excess of the federally subsidized financing costs,” Lander said.

He also emphasized that the city does not have any system in place to handle infrastructure financing in cryptocurrencies or to convert digital assets into U.S. dollars.

Adams, who is seeking re-election this November as an independent, did not respond to requests for comment.

Lander, a Democrat and a candidate for mayor himself, made clear that under his watch, Bitcoin-backed bonds won’t be part of the city’s fiscal strategy.

With both candidates positioning themselves for November, the clash over crypto policy could become a defining issue in the race.

Mayor Echoes Trump’s Crypto Playbook Amid Growing Political Embrace of Digital Assets

Mayor Adams is doubling down on crypto as part of his re-election campaign, echoing Donald Trump’s strategy from last year when Trump vowed to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

Trump’s actions included issuing an executive order to create a digital asset task force and hosting the White House’s first crypto summit in March with top industry executives.

Adams, recently cleared of corruption charges by the DOJ, a move that sparked backlash and resignations, has now become a prominent face at crypto events.

In Las Vegas, he spoke at the industry’s largest conference alongside figures like VP J.D. Vance and Senator Cynthia Lummis. These events, once dominated by industry leaders, now increasingly feature political figures.

At a side event hosted by Tether co-founder Brock Pierce, Adams appeared again, showing a long-standing relationship dating back to his Brooklyn days. Last fall, Pierce even co-hosted a fundraiser for him in Puerto Rico.

Adams has championed crypto since his 2022 mayoral campaign, famously converting his first three paychecks into Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Now, NYC is forming a digital asset advisory council to explore launching a “Bitbond.”

A similar federal initiative, proposed by the Bitcoin Policy Institute, suggests bonds partly backed by Bitcoin for a potential strategic reserve.

Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi has hinted at establishing a city-level Bitcoin reserve in a cryptic post following his meeting with two of El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy leaders.

“Bitcoin Reserve,” Mizrachi wrote to X on May 16 after meeting El Salvador-based Bitcoiners Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert.

While Mizrachi didn’t share details about his discussions with Keiser and Herbert, the timing of the post came 11 days before the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, where Mizrachi is scheduled to speak.

The creation of a Bitcoin reserve in Panama City would follow a recently approved measure permitting the use of crypto for public payments, including taxes, fines and municipal fees.

Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC) will be accepted once the crypto-to-fiat payment rails are established, Mizrachi said at the time.

To push for a Bitcoin reserve at the federal level, Mizrachi would need to collaborate with Panama’s National Assembly to craft legislation. 

There’s no evidence to suggest that he has taken such measures.

Mizrachi’s post follows the recent enactments of two Bitcoin reserve bills in the US states of Arizona and New Hampshire. 

Ukraine is also reportedly inching closer toward adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, local media reported earlier in the month.

Mizrachi, Keiser and Herbert discussed Bitcoin mining, education

A post from Keiser suggests the trio spoke about how Panama and El Salvador can leverage renewable energy to bolster their Bitcoin mining operations.

“Bitcoin is transforming Central America. El Salvador’s geothermal & Panama’s hydro-electric will power the Bitcoin revolution.”

Herbert also noted that Panama City will integrate El Salvador’s “What is Money?” financial literacy textbook into its online library system.

Related: Basel Medical shares down 15% on $1B Bitcoin buying plans

Keiser and Herbert have played a crucial role in crafting El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy, which includes a Bitcoin reserve consisting of 6,179 Bitcoin (BTC), worth nearly $640 million.

Keiser serves as President Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin advisor, while Herbert runs the country’s Bitcoin Office.

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

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/panama-city-mayor-teases-bitcoin-reserve-after-meeting-el-salvadors-bitcoin-leaders/feed/ 0 36678 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/panama-city-mayor-hints-at-bitcoin-reserve-following-meeting-with-el-salvador-advisors/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/panama-city-mayor-hints-at-bitcoin-reserve-following-meeting-with-el-salvador-advisors/#respond Fri, 16 May 2025 16:42:26 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/panama-city-mayor-hints-at-bitcoin-reserve-following-meeting-with-el-salvador-advisors/

The Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, scheduled for the final week of May, includes several notable politicians scheduled to be guest and speakers, including Bitcoin advocate Sen. Cynthia Ramis (R-WY). It also features Trump’s so-called “AI and Crypto Czar,” David Sacks, and “Executive Director of the White House’s Presidential Advisory Council of Digital Assets.”

This year, you can see the spotlight on the stage straight, even if the less standard, almost other world contingent people, at least not even appear in the audience. Like a fire from the sky, an unexpected $3,000 Bitcoin donation that didn’t ask for crashing in Roswell, New Mexico earlier this year will again rob the US Congress itself, clearly (following President Donald Trump’s orders), or whether the U.S. Congress itself will once again rob the city level or not, whether it will respond to a history call to the city level or otherwise, the first strategic Bitcoin reserve.

There are a few things you might not expect in Roswell – one of the world’s most famous dairy agriculture and one of the world’s largest mozzarella cheese factories. The aerospace and aviation industry, featuring the famous “Aircraft Cemetery,” which once housed Elvis Presley’s personal small plane, “Hound Dog II,” for 35 years. Vibrant arts, museums and cultural scenes – also a thriving tourism industry built around what Roswell is Really Known: Flying saucer.

However, Roswell is truly known all over the world for his 1947 UFO Incident. In early July 1947, a one-time flight-purpose object of perhaps unknown origin crashed and destroyed, landed in Corona near New Mexico, later recovered, 509th in the Roswell Army Air Field, brought to a WWII military base, with the only US nuclear bomb serving any service.

There are suspicions of the recovered craft and its pilots and passengers – reports of strangely formed bodies persist, but speculation about whether it is still an extraterrestrial place or the result of a US military experiment is still furious.

At the time, the local newspaper, Roswell Daily Records, has been owned by the family since 1891 and is still in print today, but reported headlines that can be seen all over the world.

RAAF captures flying saucers at a ranch in the Roswell area

Readers now know that daily records continued with retraction, and recited the military’s revised claim that the crashed vehicle was “just” a high altitude weather balloon. Donald Burleson, a former professor of mathematics in Eastern Rothwell of Cryptocurrency, revealed a 21st century exam of zoom-in photos from a 1947 “Flying Saucer” staged press conference. Burleson is also a published author, and for 25 years he wrote “Looking,” one of Daily Record’s recurring columns at UFOS.

The city of Roswell hosts the International UFO Museum and Research Centre, which opened in 1992 and attracted over 220,000 visitors a year, executive director Karenjara Miro told The Associated Press in a 2023 interview marking the museum’s five million visitors. Roswell also hosts its annual UFO Festival. This, according to the city’s website in 2023, “had a direct financial impact of $510,205 on Roswell…”

Strange people in strange land

Roswell generally has newspapers that are odd today, including myself. Nashville’s port with a strange missionary call, last year, records took me as their in-house evening copy editor – desks, landlines, sick pay, and everything…it’s kind of surreal. (The desk is said to be from the Army Air Base in World War II. And a chair? On the third day, I brought it myself.)

From Jermaine until today, I also own Bitcoin certification and have been orange people for years. The newspaper ultimately allowed me to contribute to my second call, through my contribution as a writer, to contribute to the record through the Sunday column I began writing about Bitcoin. We are honored to have been featured just aggressively to record the entire “story arc” of President Trump’s first term anti-Bitcoin hostility, as well as the 2024 reversal in the October 2024 opinion column and Trump’s unexpected “not selling Bitcoin.” Campaign at the 2024 Nashville Bitcoin Conference. In “World War I Bitcoin,” we discussed the strategic races that are occurring among multiple countries currently competing to accumulate and min “all the remaining bitcoins.”

And through that, I didn’t even fire. still. But I was in the Bitcoin news industry, looking at the trends and proposed Roswell’s strategic Bitcoin reserve in January. Because the city received $3,000 in Bitcoin donations from an anonymous out-of-state reader of a newspaper column. Whether government “approval” or the recognition of the Bitcoin media industry, I have confirmed blockchain transactions since January 3, 2025. period.

Who manages and manages it because they are still holding onto it, but asks the others, “Are we bitcoiners?”

But OK, this idea is being contemplated by the councilman who gave me the time because I want to give me a donation to the city and want to ask for personal and corporate sponsorship from there (so that I don’t create new city expenses or taxes). We are struggling and are honest.

Of course, the city council can be tough nuts, of course, but Bitcoin is a new and stump for many, but Roswell City Attorney Hess Intema recently kindly responded to me in a bid to accept the gift of Bitcoin. Bitcoin included.

Perhaps to aid the decision-making process, Bitcoin Magazine has extended the invitation to all 10 members of the Roswell City Council, and Mayor Timothy Jennings has invited the council to participate in the event, whether or not the council approves custody and management of the city-owned Bitcoin Reserve. Mayor Jennings’s office politely replied that he could not attend those dates, but at least the other councillor Christina Arnold promised to “think about it.” Councilman Ed Heldenbrand and city attorney Hess Intema are excited to be taking Roswell’s next step along with Arnold.

The Roswell City Council then met on Thursday, May 8th at 6pm Mountain time, with the meeting being livestreamed via YouTube and whether the topic of the proposed donation will be discussed remains unclear in reporting times. But before this meeting, one of the city’s finance committees scheduled a meeting with me and Hess this week to discuss the “steps to accept Bitcoin.”

“…It remains a rich state to try and frontrunn the market to secure New Mexico,” state Sen. Antony Thornton (R-NM, Dist. 19) announced Strategic Preparation Bill, SB 275, at a recent legislative meeting. The bill “represented narrowly” in 5-4, Thornton later said.

This week, Thornton responded to me in detail for further comment on the Bitcoin Reserve. value.

“However, the rarity of Bitcoin and its digital mobility could become one asset used worldwide as the best place to store long-term capital. ”

It’s not at all surprising that Roswell residents are among the first in the nation to respond to the Bitcoin siren song.

Roswellians are used to being used to random new technologies of mystical origins that emerge from the sky and disrupt all social order, industries and established financial infrastructure, but there may be unfair advantages over others in “gracking” Bitcoin, as these “incidents” are already part of the collective mind.

Readers who want to learn more about Bitcoin may find themselves creepyly drawn to Las Vegas this May to join additional events throughout the week, in addition to the two-day conference lineup for the Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference 2025.

Disclosure: Both authors hold Bitcoin as a savings asset, do not believe in aliens, and have failed to hold Roswell’s public office three times. Therefore, this content may contain unintended financial and/or political biases related to the subject and is the opinion of the author.

This is a guest post by Guy Malone. The opinions expressed are entirely unique and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.