‘I smell money’: Eric Adams heads to Las Vegas for Bitcoin conference after NYC crypto summit

His appearance at the Las Vegas event comes one week after he hosted New York City’s first-ever Crypto Summit. During that summit, Adams reaffirmed his long-standing support for the cryptocurrency industry, which he has promoted as a tool for economic growth and innovation.

“I smell money, crypto, crypto, blockchain and all the good things,” Adams said in his opening remarks at the NYC Crypto Summit. “Thank all of you for gracing us with your presence, for being here, just really thank you.”

According to the event’s website, the mayor was scheduled to speak on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in a seminar called “The Trust Layer & the Divine Algorithm.” The seminar is described as tackling decentralized ethical artificial intelligence, or DEAI, trust architecture and decentralized finance, or DeFi.

A separate event invitation obtained by The Washington Post confirmed that Vance was also slated to speak at the conference following a high-dollar fundraiser in Las Vegas.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gothamist on whether taxpayer dollars were being used to fund the trip. But the New York Post reported that City Hall deemed the trip "official business for his duties as mayor."

This is a developing story and may be updated.