Bitcoin has been gaining institutional adoption lately and Vancouver city is planning to join in on the trend. The Vancouver City Council has approved a motion that seeks to turn the city into a Bitcoin hub.
According to Bloomberg, Vancouver’s Mayor Ken Sim initiated the motion to make Vancouver Bitcoin-friendly. Through the proposal, the city will be in a better place to adopt BTC in its economic development blueprints.
Additionally, the city’s residents will store money in cryptocurrency and be able to pay for municipal services using them. Sim and his family are even willing to donate $10,000 worth of Bitcoin to Vancouver.
How Mayor’s Bitcoin vision could impact the financial future of Vancouver
Vancouver’s Mayor is in strong support of Bitcoin as a hedge to protect the city’s money. He explains that in a situation of high inflation and instability, Bitcoin can come in handy as a store of value. In his motion, Sim remarked,
It would be irresponsible for the City of Vancouver to not look at the merits of adding bitcoin to the city’s strategic assets to preserve the city’s financial stability.
However, some individuals have questioned the possibility of a conflict of interest since Sim owns crypto assets on the Coinbase exchange. In his defense, Sim explains that he obtained the permit of the city’s auditor general before presenting the motion.
Different society figures are also in support of the Mayor’s motion. For instance, Victoria Lemieux from Blockchain@UBC backs the “BTC-friendly city” idea. Other key public figures have criticized the proposal on the grounds of price volatility factor.
According to reports, an assistant professor at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, Dan Rohde, said,
I don’t even think the provinces would have jurisdiction to, for example, recognize bitcoin as a currency in Canada.
Vancouver BTC adoption legal and regulatory barriers
Vancouver’s decision to adopt Bitcoin can experience severe regulatory hurdles. To date, the Canadian law does not permit cities to adopt BTC or any type of cryptocurrency as their reserve currency. The provincial government Community Charter and the Vancouver Charter, are also yet to give their approval for the use of Bitcoin as a payment option for municipal services.
On the other hand, Canada’s Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs explains that local governments do not have approval to invest in crypto. What this means is that for Vancouver to proceed with its BTC plan, several laws have to change at the provincial and federal level.
Nonetheless, Sim still believes that Vancouver can benefit from Bitcoin. However, if there are no changes to the current legislation in the city, his Bitcoin adoption plans might face real challenges.
As Vancouver advances in its experimentation process with Bitcoin, the city will have to make its decision wisely. Only time will tell if this ambitious plan will be worth it or not.
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