Rio de Janeiro to accept Bitcoin for real estate taxes from 2023

The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will officially start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments for taxes related to urban real estate within their city limits, a.k.a. Imposto sobre a propriedade predial e territorial urbana (IPTU).

As reported by Cointelegraph Brazil, the new pro-crypto tax laws will be implemented from 2023, which was announced by the Secretary of Economic Development, Innovation and Simplification, Chicão Bulhões.

Work from anywhere = Rio! Welcome @binance… Rio on blockchain! @eduardopaes https://t.co/NJEArEvEXV

— Chicão (@ChicaoBulhoes) March 26, 2022

Supporting this cause led by the Brazilian Mayor Eduardo Paes, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced to open a new office in the region stating that “He’s done his part. We are working on ours.”

9 days ago, I made a handshake deal with mayor @eduardopaes. Rio De Janeiro will accept crypto for tax payments, and @Binance will open an office in Rio. He’s done his part. We are working on ours. https://t.co/HPJONtBfQ8

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) March 26, 2022

The rollout of this initiative will place Rio de Janeiro as the first Brazilian city to mainstream BTC payments. According to the translated announcement:

“To enable the operation, the municipality will hire companies specialized in converting crypto assets into reais. In this way, the City Hall will receive 100% of the amount in the currency.”

Brazilian secretary Pedro Paulo further acknowledged that the city’s goal — with the acceptance of cryptocurrencies — is to develop a solid market of this new asset class in the city, adding:

“We will stimulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies by integrating them into the payment of taxes, as in the case of IPTU and, in the future, this can be expanded to services such as taxi races, for example.”

The city also plans to involve nonfungible tokens (NFT)-based governance policies across various markets including arts, culture and tourism.

Related: Meta goes to Brazil to trademark Bitcoin and crypto services

Earlier this year on Jan. 29, Meta, the world’s biggest social media platform, filed a trademark registration with the Brazilian authorities to design, develop and provision hardware and software for various BTC and crypto-related services.

As Cointelegraph reported, Meta’s trademark filing order was placed on Oct. 5, 2021, from Jamaica.