Key facts:
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Paying taxes with BTC could be done with the technology of the Binance exchange.
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It is the first city in Latin America, after El Salvador, to formalize this initiative.
The city of Rio de Janeiro has promised to accept bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies for the payment of taxes, through an alliance with the Binance exchange.
As announced by Changpen Zhao, CEO of Binance, and seconded by Eduardo PaesMayor of Rio de Janeiro, the city will receive taxes in BTC and other cryptocurrencies. In line with this initiative, Zhao indicated that Binance would open a commercial office in Rio de Janeiro.
According to him official statement of the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could be regulated beyond the payment of taxes towards other public services, as well as contemplate using the tokens no fungibles (NFT) in cultural activities.
“We will stimulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies, integrating them in the payment of taxes, as in the case of IPTU [Impuesto sobre Propiedad y Terrenos Urbanos]and, in the future, this may be extended to services such as taxi rides, for example.
Going further, we will use these crypto assets to stimulate the arts, culture and tourism, through NFTs, and create a strong and responsible governance policy to evaluate the realization of crypto investments.”
Pedro Paulo, secretary of the mayor’s office of Rio de Janeiro
Although not specified, it is likely that they use a service developed by Binance, or other companies in the industry, both for receiving payments and converting them to the national currency, the Brazilian real.
Chicão Bulhões, Secretary of Economic Development of Rio de Janeiro, stated that they want to develop an ecosystem of cryptocurrency companies in the city, according to the official statement.
“We want to transform Rio into the country’s technology and innovation capital. With this step, we remain at the forefront and show the world that the city is open to investments in the sector. In addition to already having a solid ecosystem in the field of cryptocurrencies, the city has great potential to grow even more, due to the large number of universities and research centers installed here.
The cryptocurrency universe is another important segment with great potential to further develop Rio’s economy in this area of innovation and technology.”
Chicão Bulhões, Secretary of Economic Development of Rio de Janeiro.
For his part, local deputy Pedro Paulo confirmed on Twitter than paying taxes with cryptocurrencies in Rio de Janeiro will start in 2023. He also pointed out that the municipality is studying the possibility of investing in cryptoactive funds.
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In January of this year the mayor of Rio de Janeiro had already assured 1% of the treasury of the mayor’s office would be in BTCand even announced that it would launch its own cryptocurrency called RioCoin, CriptoNoticias reported.
On that occasion, he even spoke with Francis Suárez, his peer in the city of Miami, USA, who has also been greatly interested in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In fact, in Miami there is also a proposal to accept taxes in Bitcoin.
More cities join the adoption of Bitcoin
Similarly, other initiatives seek to bring bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to various parts of Latin America. Such is the case of the Municipality of Ilopangoin El Salvador, where the local mayor is encouraging people to pay their taxes through Chivo, the bitcoin wallet developed by the national government of that country.
The declaration of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, the announcement of the construction of Bitcoin City in that country, and the success story of the town of El Zonte as an example of the adoption of Bitcoin, in turn inspire other cities in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Brazil other countries in the region, where diverse communities integrate this cryptocurrency as part of their economy.