Bitcoin may be seeing the winter slowly creep in, but it looks like more cities were warming up to it. The adoption of the largest crypto is going well as yet another city has announced plans to include Bitcoin and cryptos in its economy. As per the announcement by the Rio de Janeiro Mayor, Eduardo Paes, the city intended to hold 1% of its treasury reserves in crypto.
Paes stated,
“We are going to launch Crypto Rio and invest 1% of the Treasury in cryptocurrency.”
The Mayor did not mention which crypto or cryptos they were going to include but did note a role for Bitcoin. On its way to becoming a cryptocurrency hub, Secretaries Pedro Paulo, from Finance, and Chicão Bulhões, from Economic Development and Innovation noted,
“We are studying the possibility of paying taxes with an additional discount if you pay with bitcoins. You take the discount off the single quota of 7% (of the IPTU), it becomes 10% if you pay in bitcoin.”
If the Mayor followed through with his intent, Rio could become the first Brazilian city to hold Treasury investment in crypto assets. Rio being the financial center for Brazil, steps towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could benefit it. Paes also added,
“Rio de Janeiro has everything it takes to become the tech capital of South America. Events like the Rio Innovation Week come to strengthen the city’s image as the perfect place to work, live, and innovate.”
Tonga to adopt Bitcoin
Like mentioned earlier, Rio was not the only one thinking of adding Bitcoin and crypto to its economy. Tonga is the latest country to reveal that it has been contemplating adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender.
The former member of the parliament of Tonga, Lord Fusitu’a recently stated that the country’s legal tender bill for Bitcoin is “modeled on” and “is almost identical” to that of El Salvador.
As per the former MP, the country could adopt Bitcoin by November 2022, however, the bill in question is yet to be submitted to the House. It may be presented by September/October.
The number of countries adopting Bitcoin and crypto is slowly increasing. Although there have been concerns flying around from mainstream institutions over this step, it will be crucial to keep a check on the crypto space. We may end the year seeing the world divided between those who have adopted the technology and those who were still trying to avoid it. The pros and cons will. however, be known in time.