“How to buy Miami Coin” is a search query that is exploding in popularity on Google for one reason: investors are anxious to get their hands on Magic City’s newly launched cryptocurrency. You read correctly! The bustling Florida-based city is debuting a brand-spankin’ new digital asset called “Miami Coin.” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says the city partnered with CityCoin, a cryptocurrency team that facilitates the launch of digital assets that support municipalities. Miami city officials are crossing their fingers that Miami Coin will help generate millions of dollars in revenue to fund local projects.

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What is Miami Coin?

Miami is one of the most cryptocurrency-friendly cities in the US. In fact, the Bitcoin Conference was held in the picturesque Florida city in early June. However, Miami Coin is no Bitcoin, so it’s important to understand the risks of this city-based digital currency before investing in it. Firstly, according to Miami Coin’s main website, 30% of the revenue generated from Miami Coin will be forwarded to a wallet reserved for the city of Miami. This concept of splitting proceeds isn’t new. SafeMoon, for example, charges a 10% fee for selling it; 5% is redistributed to existing holders and the rest is reserved for the liquidity pool (a storehouse of tokens that enables users to trade tokens). That being said, Miami Coin was launched to benefit the financial health of Magic City, so if Miami has a special place in your heart and your intentions of purchasing Miami Coin is based on altruism, you are the target audience. However, if you have reservations about a portion of your earnings being funneled straight into Miami’s digital wallet, you may want to reconsider Miami Coin.

How to buy Miami Coin

To acquire Miami’s new cryptocurrency, you won’t be able to purchase it — at least, not yet. You’ll have to “mine” it.  Before you can mine Miami Coin, you’ll need to buy a cryptocurrency called Stacks (the “How Miami Coin works” section explains why). Stacks (STX) can be purchased on Binance (opens in new tab) (not to be confused with Binance US (opens in new tab)) or KuCoin. In this tutorial, we’ll be using KuCoin, so make sure you sign up for an account. Admittedly, the KuCoin interface can be a little intimidating, but don’t worry. We’ll walk you through it! To buy Stacks on KuCoin, you’ll need Bitcoin (BTC) so that you can exchange it for STX. You can purchase BTC on KuCoin via the “Buy Crypto” tab. Once you’ve got Bitcoin in your KuCoin account, here’s how to get Stacks.

  1. Log into your KuCoin account.
  2. Click on “Markets” on the top-left corner.
  3. Type in “STX” into the search bar. You should find a pairing that says “STX/BTC.” Click on it. 
  4. Navigate to the bottom right quadrant of the page where it says “Limit, Market, Stop Limit.”
  5. Click on “Market.” (This will ensure that you get STX at current market rate).
  6. Click on “100%” to trade all of your Bitcoin for STX, and click “Buy STX.”
  7. Voila, you now have some Stacks! Next, you’ll need to transfer your newly acquired STX to the Stacks wallet, which needs to be linked to the Miami Coin platform. Here’s how to do it. Sign up for a Stacks Wallet account
  8. Head to MineMiamiCoin.com on the Google Chrome browser. A window titled “Add Stacks Wallet to Chrome” will appear.
  9. Click on “Download Stacks Wallet,” which will lead you to the Stacks Wallet Chrome Web Store page. Click on “Add Extension.”
  10. Once installed, a new tab will launch. Click on “I’m new to Stacks.” Follow the prompts to complete the onboarding process. You’ll be given a 24-word secret key phrase. Make sure to guard this with your life and keep it somewhere safe.
  11. After you’ve successfully signed up, you should land on the Stacks Wallet main page. (If not, click on the Stacks icon located near the address bar.) Click on “Receive” followed by “Copy Address.” This will copy your Stacks Wallet address, which you’ll need for transferring your STX to Stacks Wallet. Transferring STX from KuCoin to Stacks Wallet
  12. Head back to your KuCoin account and make sure you’re on the “Assets Overview” page.
  13. Click on “Withdraw” on the top-right corner. 
  14. Type in “STX” into the search bar and click on Stacks when the drop-down menu appears.
  15. Under “Wallet Address,” paste the address you copied from Stacks Wallet.
  16. Under “Network,” click STX.
  17. Click on “Max” to send all your STX to the Stacks Wallet.
  18. You can leave “Remark” blank, but if you’d like, you can put “STX for Stacks Wallet.”
  19. Click on “Confirm” followed by “Confirm Withdrawal.”
  20. After some security checks, congrats, you’ve sent STX to Stacks Wallet! It will take several minutes before STX hits your Stacks Wallet, so don’t fret if it doesn’t come right away. Keep refreshing. Once your STX has hit your Stacks Wallet, it’s time link your wallet to the Miami Coin platform. How to mine Miami Coin
  21. Make sure you’re signed into your Stacks Wallet. Go to MineMiamiCoin.com.
  22. Click on “Connect Wallet.” A Stacks Wallet pop up will appear. Click on your account. 3. Refresh the MineMiamiCoin.com page and you’ll see a button that says “Dashboard.” Click on it.
  23. Now that you’ve landed on your dashboard, tick the legal agreement.
  24. Now you have the option to either mine for one block (in other words, you place a bid once). Or you can mine for several blocks (several bids). For the sake of simplicity and brevity of this tutorial, we’ll move forward with the “Mine one block” option.
  25. You’ll be led to a new page where you’ll be asked how much STX you’d like to bid on one block. Input how much STX you’d like to gamble to get some Miami Coin.
  26. Click on “Send transaction.”
  27. The Stacks Wallet window will appear. Keep in mind that you’ll need to pay a network fee. Click “Confirm.”

How Miami Coin works

“MiamiCoin is powered by Stacks, a protocol that enables smart contracts on the Bitcoin network. Anyone can compete to mine MiamiCoin by forwarding their STX tokens through the protocol,” CityCoin said. If this is confusing to you, don’t worry; I’ll break it down for you. Mining typically involves using hardware to solve complex cryptographic equations to validate and secure a cryptocurrency network, and in return, you’ll receive digital assets as a reward. For example, you can mine Dogecoin with your PC and earn DOGE as an expression of gratitude for lending your hardware power. However, Miami Coin is different from Dogecoin mining, which is biased toward owners with top-of-the-line hardware. “There are no hardware requirements for mining [Miami Coin],” CityCoin said. “All you need to do is transfer Stacks (STX) tokens to [Miami Coin’s] smart contract.” So what, exactly, is Stacks? Well, unlike the Ethereum blockchain, you can’t build apps or NTFs on top of Bitcoin. But Stacks came along and changed everything; this protocol lets users build apps, smart contracts and cryptocurrencies atop the Bitcoin network. Stacks’ technology finally makes Bitcoin “programmable.” To use the Stacks protocol, however, you’ll need to buy STX. In the same way you need to buy ETH (Ethereum’s native token) to purchase NFTs that run on the Ethereum blockchain, you’ll need to buy STX (Stacks’ native token) to acquire Miami Coin. As mentioned, you’ll need to send your STX tokens to Miami Coin’s smart contract. What happens next is similar to participating in a raffle. After submitting your STX tokens, you’ll be competing with others to mine Miami Coin, which can be can be held to earn either STX or BTC (Bitcoin) rewards. Participants with the most tokens have a better chance of winning. “If Alice sends 10 STX to the contract and Bob sends 30 STX, then Alice and Bob have a 25% and 75% chance to win the rewards for that block, respectively,” CityCoin explained. If you’d prefer to buy Miami coin, you’ll have to wait; City Coin is kicking off Miami Coin by allowing users to “mine” them, first. “We will update the community when $MIA becomes available on certain trusted exchanges,” CityCoin said. As with any investment, be sure to take proper risk management before investing in highly speculative assets like Miami Coin and other cryptocurrencies.