Strong River Bend to Invest Surplus in Bitcoin
by Ima Phibber
Strong River Bend (SRB) has done a very good job managing its finances. The mayor, Gus Easyspirit, and the board of alderman have been united in their efforts to buttress the town’s reserves. The police department has done their part to bring in revenue, and the town’s controversial traffic cameras have helped to bring extra income as well. But, the town’s reserves have been sitting in bank accounts earning very little interest, and alderman Johnny Blockchane has proposed a solution for this.
Blockchane mentioned investing some of the town’s money into Bitcoin (BTC) a couple months ago. A couple other board members agreed that some of the money needed to be put into something to earn more interest, but nothing was done about it. Blockchane has been talking to the mayor and board members about Bitcoin. Blockchane said, “I’m a big believer in Bitcoin. I’ve been a HODLer for a long time, and I plan on owning it to the day I die. SRB has around $100K just sitting in the bank earning basically nothing, and it hit me in the middle of the night a few months ago that we needed to buy BTC with some of that money.”
Blockchane added, “It hasn’t been easy educating the mayor and board about Bitcoin. Honestly, I still don’t think they understand it. But, they’ve seen that I’ve been able to buy two vacation homes, a Ferarri, and a Porsche, and they know it’s not because of my $500/month alderman salary. Everyone has jumped on board except my fellow alderman, Billy Pheott, and I don’t think there’s any hope for him.”
The board of alderman voted 4-1 at this month’s meeting to invest half or $50K of the town’s reserves in BTC. Pheott was the lone no vote. Mayor Easyspirit and the board alderman agreed that they needed to have an open forum to educate SRB residents on the matter. That meeting or forum happened this Tuesday, and it was something else. Jerry Springer and Maury Povich would’ve been proud. Pheott rallied his troops to show up and show out in opposition to the proposal. I was there, and I was able to speak to multiple attendees after the meeting.
A Pheott supporter and opponent to the proposal said, “Blockchane has pulled the wool over the mayor and aldermen’s eyes. Bitcoin is so volatile; the $50K could be worth $25K in a month. Everyone knows Bitcoin is just used by criminals to launder money. Plus, there’s nothing backing Bitcoin! It’s really and truly worthless! Also, the government has no control or oversight on it. This is so reckless for our town to be doing this. We just need to put the money in a CD and be done with it. If we lose money on this, the 4 alderman that voted for this should have to make up the loss.”
A town resident in support of the proposal said, “Look, I don’t really understand Bitcoin. Does anybody really understand it? There are a few things that I still don’t know after the forum. Where is the Bitcoin going to be physically stored? Will it be in a safe deposit box at the bank? I’d like to see it after it’s purchased; I’ve never actually seen Bitcoin. I know Blockchane has done really well with it. Have you seen his new house? So, I guess let’s just go with it! Maybe SRB can make a bunch of money like Blockchane.”
I believe SRB is the first town or city in Mississippi to buy BTC. It will be interesting to see if others follow their lead. We’re hearing rumblings of the USA and other countries creating BTC strategic reserves, so government entities are definitely looking at buying BTC. We’ll see if it turns out to be a good investment for SRB, and the SRVO will keep you updated on the matter.