NYC real estate firm that declared the value of crypto gave $ 21,000 to Mayor Adams after he asked Hochul to veto the mining bill

30 executives at a real estate firm with a history of claiming the value of cryptocurrencies donated more than $ 21,000 to Mayor Adams’ re-election bid shortly after he asked Governor Hochul last month to veto a bill that would introduce new cryptocurrencies in the state, according to to a Daily News review of campaign economics.

But a spokeswoman for the company, the Manhattan-based Newmark Group, claimed Monday that the flood of donations was not related to Adams’ veto.

“The timing was purely coincidental,” the spokeswoman said. “The mayor is in the middle of a fundraiser, and the donations were the result of a planned fundraiser.”

The representative refused to specify the fundraising event. Evan Thies, an Adams campaign adviser, declined to comment.

Adams publicly urged Hochul on June 13 to veto legislation that would make it illegal to create new parts of cryptocurrencies using an environmentally harmful computer process known as “evidence-at-work.”

On the same day, eight Newmark executives donated a total of $ 9,800 to Adams’ 2025 campaign, according to data from the city’s Campaign Finance Board. Among them were Newmark CEO Barry Gosin, who chipped in $ 400, and Regional President David Falk, who gave $ 2,100, the maximum individual amount allowed by law.

Over the next two days, an additional 22 Newmark employees – ranging from junior-level employees to a CEO – pumped an additional $ 11,300 into Adam’s campaign fund, records show. In total, the 30 Newmark big 21 $ 21,100 were given to Adams within three days after he asked Hochul to block the anti-encryption bill.

Newmark’s political money spray – a portion of the $ 850,000 that Adams has already raised for its 2025 re-election campaign – comes as the company urges companies in the real estate sector to embrace cryptocurrencies.

A report released by Newmark in March called on the sector to rely more on blockchain, the digital ledger system used to store cryptocurrencies, and look at allowing crypto for real estate sales.

“Blockchain adoption appears to be the likely future first step in the (commercial real estate) sphere,” the report said.

And on May 3 – just days before cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin began to decline in value as part of a digital market crash – Newmark’s CEO Adam Green published a piece on the company’s website that said there is “a lot of investment potential” in the blockchain. and crypto rooms.

In total, Adams’ 2025 campaign has raised at least $ 150,000 from real estate interests this year, according to Politico.

The Newmark spokeswoman rejected the idea that the company has an interest in crypto, saying that the publications on the case do not “deal with the company’s guidelines.”

“Newmark does not see cryptocurrency as a resource. “At the moment, Newmark does not accept cryptocurrency as payment, and has no cryptocurrency holdings,” she said. “Therefore, all indications that Newmark’s strategy includes cryptocurrency are false.”

Adams has been a major crypto promoter since taking office, and even converted his first three town hall pay slips to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

By pressuring Hochul to veto the bill, Adams has argued that any new cryptocurrency regulation will hamper economic growth. “If we continue to put barriers in place, we will damage the bottom line,” he said last month.

Hochul has not yet said whether she will sign the measure, which will impose a two-year moratorium on the “proof-of-work” crypto-mining process.

The process is extremely energy-intensive, and environmentalists say it could exacerbate climate change as a result. In New York, spokesmen have been particularly troubled by attempts by crypto companies to turn disused fossil fuel plants upstate into proof-of-work crypto mining.

Assemblywoman Anna Kelles (D-Ithaca), the main sponsor of the Moratorium Act, noted that Adams promised state lawmakers in February that he supported “cryptocurrency, not crypto-mining.”

“Ten weeks later, he is publicly asking the governor to veto a bill that solely imposes a moratorium on the mining of cryptocurrencies in fossil fuel-based power plants,” Kelles said. “I think he has to stand strong on his original statements and facts and truth. If he wants to support crypto, he can do so without supporting fossil fuels that burn mining in the state of New York.”