Miami’s Eryka Gemma Remains a Crypto Queen Despite Past Proud Boy Ties

Eryka Gemma Flores was a relatively obscure Miami cryptocurrency promoter until she was thrust into the national spotlight over a document entitled “1776 Returns.”

In November 2022, the New York Times revealed that the self-described “Godmother of the Miami Crypto Scene” had been accused of sending the far-right Proud Boys the document with a detailed plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election. According to the report, just one week before the January 6, 2021 insurrection, Flores provided then-Proud Boys leader and Miami native Enrique Tarrio with the “1776 Returns” plan, outlining a scheme to storm government buildings around the Capitol.

The document was a core component of the seditious conspiracy charge brought against members of the violent extremist group and its commander-in-chief Tarrio, who was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for his role in the insurrection. Gemma was not charged with any crime in the case.

Despite being outed as the alleged brains behind the Proud Boys’ January 6 attack, Flores has kept herself booked and busy.

It appears that since the Times report was published in late 2022, Flores has been a featured speaker for at least six conferences held in Miami and beyond.

Several weeks after the report’s publication, Flores was one of a few dozen keynote speakers featured at TechBeach Retreat Summit, a tech conference held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, between November 30 and December 2.

In May 2023, she headlined the third-annual Shitcoin conference in Miami before popping up at Bitcoin 2023 in Miami Beach, where she discussed cryptocurrency as part of a long lineup of tech CEOs and authors, with anti-vax presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (who was also running for president at the time) at the top of the bill.

In December 2023, she was a speaker at Unconfiscatable, a Bitcoin conference and celebrity poker tournament held in Las Vegas.

Most recently, on January 25, she was among four panelists chosen for an event at the Ritz Carlton Bal Harbour about the digitalization of assets.

A self-described libertarian, Flores was the youngest delegate in Washington state to work for Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign. She’s attributed her love for cryptocurrency to her roots in libertarian politics.

After a stint in the aircraft trading and leasing industry, Flores pivoted to cryptocurrency, launching “Miami International Bitcoin” in 2015, which she described as a “meet-up group” that eventually turned into a Facebook community where people would chat about cryptocurrency.

Flores became known in Miami’s cryptocurrency circles as a venture capitalist and fierce advocate for digital currency, at one point garnering credit for educating Miami Mayor Francis Suarez about Bitcoin and promoting Miami as a crypto-friendly city, notably one of Suarez’s more passionate missions as mayor.

She founded the city’s Bitcoin Center, a tech education hub in the downtown area, as well as the Miami Blockchain Center, which Google now lists as “permanently closed.”

She was described in court documents as a onetime “romantic interest” of Tarrio.

As previously reported by New Times, text messages introduced as evidence in Tarrio’s trial show correspondence in which an “Eryk-A” transmits the document to Tarrio around 12:50 p.m. on December 30, 2020.

“If you don’t like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere,” one message to Tarrio reads. “But I want you to be the executor and benefitor [sic] of my brilliance.”

The plan demanded a new election with only in-person paper ballots. It declares, “You are the revolution. Be a part of history and fight for this country so your children don’t have to.”

When describing the messages, federal prosecutors in the Tarrio trial have referred to the sender as “Erika Flores,” noting that she pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions about the 1776 Returns document after receiving a subpoena last year.