The small town of Cool Valley, Missouri, lives up to its name. Its mayor, Jayson Stewart, plans to give $1K in bitcoin to each household and the project is fully funded. To top it all of, the airdrop comes with education. The 1500 habitants will learn how to use wallets and interact with the network, and also will be incentivized to HODL the coins they receive. “We’re going to get people storing their own Bitcoin as quickly as possible,” the Cool Valley mayor said.
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Cointelegraph recently interviewed Jayson Stewart, and he told them:
“What really excites me, and what I’m working on, is getting regular people to hold Bitcoin, and for them to really benefit from the appreciation of holding an asset like that.”
About a month ago, the Cool Valley mayor went viral with the plan to do this very thing. At the time, he told KSDK, “I have some very supportive donors who have agreed to match any money that I raise up to several millions of dollars.” And the plan went so well that Steward already has all the funds and then some. Such is the power of the Internet. Such is the power of Bitcoin.
$1,000 #Bitcoin will go to every resident of Cool Valley, Missouri.
The Mayor’s plan is now fully funded!
— Bitcoin Archive ??? (@BTC_Archive) September 29, 2021
Will Cool Valley Residents HODL Their Coins?
While the process of how will they distribute the Bitcoin is not yet clear, it seems like they decided to let people spend it if they want. At first, that wasn’t the case. A month ago, the Cool Valley mayor told KSDK, “We’re putting in place like a vesting schedule for Bitcoin. The idea is that maybe you don’t touch it for five years before you really get full access to it. We’re working on ideas like that because that’s my number one concern.”
Now, the plan is to offer the Cool Valley residents an incentive to HODL. This is much more in line with Bitcoin’s philosophy. The recipients will get a still unspecified bonus if they do, or they’ll receive less BTC if they decide to sell. That brings to mind the 2014 experiment at MIT, which had positive results and sparked more than one career in cryptocurrencies.
Back to the more recent interview, the Cool Valley mayor said, “the story got so popular in a way that I never anticipated.” Since they got more donations than they were expecting, Steward plans to use the excedent to convert the government lights to solar power and fund other environmentally friendly projects. “There’s a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt when it comes to the environmental effects of Bitcoin,” he said. And he’s putting his donors’ Bitcoin where his mouth is.
BTC price chart for 09/30/2021 on Coinbase | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Bringing Bitcoin Bussines To Missouri
Recently, Stewart joined the Midwest BankCenter’s Advisory Board. This is “a locally owned bank with nearly $2 billion in assets.” In the same breath, he said “I’m trying to get a Bitcoin-friendly bank over here.” We can read between the lines there. Apart from that, Steward said, “We’ve had some people reach out about opening a mining facility.”
Is this man taking a page from Nayib Bukele’s book? El Salvador’s President’s decision to make Bitcoin legal tender has brought a lot of new business to the country, and that experiment is just starting. Reportedly, Cool Valley already hosts one Bitcoin ATM. One ATM and private donations, that’s the way El Zonte started. Are we witnessing another spark in the process towards the hyperbitcoinization of the world? Only time will tell.
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In another recent interview, this time with Bitcoin Magazine, the Cool Valley mayor praised Bitcoin:
“It’s given me a new way of thinking about humanity in the future,” Stewart said. “It’s given me a hope, and an optimism that we can overcome some of the worst parts of the system that we’re born into, and actually create a future exactly how we want it to be. There’s a certain level of hope and optimism that I get from Bitcoin.”
Bitcoin is hope. And the residents of Cool Valley will soon have the chance to experience the magic first hand.
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