In imitation of the path the mayor of the city of Miami had taken, the city of Rio de Janeiro might become the first Brazilian city and the first metropolis in South America to buy Bitcoin as a store of value.
The city’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, revealed his intention to invest a percentage of the city’s Treasury Fund in bitcoin at Rio Innovation Week. In addition to converting one percent of its treasury reserve to bitcoin, the city plans to offer discounts for those who pay for taxes with Bitcoin, such as IPTU, if possible.
Paes mentioned his intentions to the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, who joined the event through a video conference call when he was speaking on the challenges of transforming metropolises into technological hubs.
In preparation for the execution of the project of turning the city of Rio de Janeiro into “Crypto Rio”, Paes plans to establish a working group that will handle the matters relating to buying Bitcoin for the city’s reserve.
Pedro Paulo, the Finance Secretary, and Chicão Bulhões, the Secretary of Economic Development, Innovation, and Simplification, confirmed the plan to offer discounts to Cariocas who pay tax with bitcoin, possibly up to 10% on the IPTU value.
Concerning Rio’s intention to follow in the footsteps of Miami in bitcoin adoption, Paes said,
“Today’s world revolves much more around a network of cities, the so-called global cities. Miami and Rio are global cities, attracting people, functions, and organizations. This international dialog is very important.”
While it is still unclear if Rio will create its own cryptocurrency in the future, it is certain that to become a cryptocurrency hub like the city of Miami, Rio plans to adopt Bitcoin just like the large US city.
Miami, led by its mayor, Suarez, took the initiative and became the first city to add Bitcoin to its treasury reserve early last year.
The city revealed its intentions, initially on Dec 29 2020 where Suarez openly acknowledged that he is open to the idea of investing 1% of the city’s treasury reserve in bitcoin in a reply to a tweet posted by the popular bitcoin proponent, Anthony Pompliano.
A few months later, the city adopted bitcoin, and options were opened for citizens of Miami to pay taxes with bitcoin and employees to have part of their salaries paid in bitcoin. Miami also created a cryptocurrency named MiamiCoin.
