NYC Launches First Municipal Crypto Office to Boost Blockchain

Mayor Eric Adams’ Executive Order 57, signed on October 14 and effective immediately, creates the Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology as a permanent unit within the Mayor’s Office. Reporting to the city’s Chief Technology Officer and led by Moises Rendon, this marks the first municipal office in the United States specifically focused on digital assets. The office’s mandate includes coordinating blockchain initiatives across city agencies, studying and drafting policy proposals, running public education programs on risks and fraud, and collaborating with the city’s economic development arm on investment and job creation.

This structural innovation provides startups and large institutions with what City Hall describes as a ‘front door’ for blockchain-related pilots, procurement, and regulatory troubleshooting that typically involve multiple city bureaus. While the office cannot rewrite New York State’s BitLicense framework that governs cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians, it can standardize how municipal agencies evaluate blockchain pilots, assist major financial institutions in navigating public-sector use cases, and coordinate with state and federal counterparts when projects encounter regulatory gray areas.

New York’s move follows established international models but adapts them for municipal governance. Hong Kong formed a government-level Web3 Task Force in 2023, chaired by the Financial Secretary, to steer policy and industry coordination, demonstrating staying power through its renewal in 2025 across market cycles. Singapore’s Monetary Authority runs Project Guardian, a regulator-led program where banks and asset managers test tokenization for funds, foreign exchange, and collateral, expanding in 2024-2025 to include more global buy-side groups.

Dubai took a more comprehensive approach by creating the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) through legislation in 2022, establishing its own rulebook for virtual asset service providers and providing firms with a clear licensing path. New York’s model differs significantly as it operates at the municipal level rather than as a sector regulator, covering both public-sector modernization and industry growth. This positioning leverages the city’s substantial buying power and data infrastructure to make pilots meaningful while using procurement to align private standards with public needs in areas like identity verification, payments, and records management that must interoperate with legacy systems.

For companies operating in the digital assets space, the new office provides three key advantages: a single counterparty, a structured pipeline for pilots, and clearer risk management expectations. Custody providers offering secure disbursements to city vendors or banks testing tokenized deposits for municipal receivables now have a designated owner within City Hall who can coordinate across agencies and maintain project timelines. The office’s mandate to liaise with the Office of Technology and Innovation and the Economic Development Corporation means projects can progress from concept to implementation without getting lost in interagency bureaucracy.

The office is expected to prioritize pilot projects where blockchain’s audit trails offer clear value, including permit and license registries, vendor payments with automated reconciliation, grants management, and proof-of-delivery systems for social services. Following Singapore’s Project Guardian model, which demonstrated viability for tokenized collateral and fund units in controlled environments, New York could replicate this pattern with city treasurers and partner banks. The office’s public education mandate on scams and consumer risks may also yield practical benefits through published playbooks for vendor diligence and wallet hygiene, giving compliance teams at exchanges and fintechs common reference points for RFPs and risk committees.

The office operates within significant constraints: it cannot issue licenses, does not pre-empt state or federal law, and its influence will depend on budget allocations and staffing levels. With Mayor Adams leaving office in January 2026, continuity depends on whether the next administration treats the office as critical infrastructure or a political ornament. These limitations notwithstanding, the structure aligns with a broader pattern where jurisdictions that concentrate digital-asset work within named bodies tend to move more efficiently from concept to implementation.

Hong Kong’s task force and Dubai’s VARA represent different points on the regulatory spectrum—one advisory and coordination-focused, the other a full regulator with binding rules. For crypto companies with New York clients, the new office replaces what was previously a patchwork of agency staff with rotating assignments with a permanent entity bearing a clear mandate. While the office cannot change the BitLicense framework, it can make New York more accessible for blockchain innovation. In a sector where ease of doing business often determines where pilots are deployed, this municipal initiative represents a strategic move to integrate blockchain technology into the city’s civic infrastructure rather than treating it as a peripheral concern.