Rio is the first city in the country to announce payment in crypto. Photo: Raphael Nogueira.
In 2023, the city of Rio de Janeiro will accept cryptocurrencies in the payment of the Urban Property and Territorial Tax (IPTU). This was one of the announcements that the government made today (25) that focus on creating a blockchain and cryptocurrency hub in the city.
Although the citizen can pay the IPTU with cryptocurrencies, the amount in reais goes to the city hall cashier. That’s because it will hire companies to do the conversion of cryptos. Thus, the city avoids the risk of having cryptocurrencies in cash that are volatile assets. For public finances, money needs to be stable so as not to have a negative impact on spending and investment.
The government also created the Municipal Committee for Cryptoinvestments (CMCI), which should develop a methodology for public investment of resources in cryptoassets.
To make the IPTU payment operation viable, the municipality will hire companies specialized in carrying out the conversion of crypto assets into reais. In this way, the City Hall will receive 100% of the amount paid in local currency. And it also creates a utility for digital currencies, which in Brazil are mainly treated as investments.
The announcement took place at “Criptoatividade Carioca”, a city hall event. The government also presented the CriptoRio report, which proposes actions for the development of the cryptocurrency hub in the city.
As it did with Ethereum Rio a week ago, the government wanted to make it clear that the city is implementing concrete measures to stimulate the cryptocurrency segment. This time it was Eduardo Paes. But at ETH Rio, the secretary of economic development, Chicão Bulhões, made this statement in the panel where the founder and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the CZ. The bag, the biggest in the world, had run out to announce the purchase of a traditional investment platform which is based in São Paulo and announced that it would make new purchases.
According to the municipal secretary of Finance and Planning, Pedro Paulo, in the future, other services may be paid in cryptocurrencies, such as taxi. “Going further, we will use these crypto assets to stimulate the arts, culture and tourism, through NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and create a solid and responsible governance policy to evaluate the realization of crypto investments.”
According to the government, there will be a public hearing to receive and present suggestions from civil society for the development of NFTs in the city of Rio. And the government promises to create spaces for artists to make interventions that would later become NFT. These tokens would go to a blockchain chosen by the City.