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