Rio de Janeiro authorities will buy bitcoins for a portion of the city’s budget

What Happened?

Rio de Janeiro’s secretary of finance and planning, Andrea Senko, said authorities will begin to encourage the introduction of bitcoin into the city’s financial system. To that end, the government will purchase BTC for the city’s treasury, she told in a recent interview. Senko believes that the integration of the first cryptocurrency into the financial, social and technological structure will make Rio de Janeiro the main cryptocurrency hub of Brazil.

What else did Senko add?

The Rio de Janeiro administration announced back in January that it plans to convert 1 percent of the city’s budget into bitcoins. The finance minister added that the transaction and further management of the digital assets would take place with the participation of leading economists and analysts. Also in March this year, the city government created the Municipal Committee for Cryptoinvestment (CMCI) to implement its plan.

Previously, Rio de Janeiro authorities announced the possibility to pay property taxes with cryptocurrencies. If the legislation is amended, it will be available as early as 2023.