Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes.Buda Mendes/LatinContent via Getty Images
Rio de Janeiro is aiming to put 1% of the famous Brazilian city’s reserves into bitcoin, its mayor reportedly said Thursday. Eduardo Paes spoke of the plan during a panel with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, himself a bitcoin bull. Rio de Janeiro may also offer a discount on property taxes paid in bitcoin. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro is working to put a slice of the famous Brazilian city’s reserves into bitcoin, according to reports Friday, a move reminiscent of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s push make his city a cryptocurrency hub.
“We are going to launch Crypto Rio and invest 1% of the treasury in cryptocurrency,” said Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes on Thursday, according to a translated version of a report by Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
He revealed the plan during Rio Innovation Week at a panel with Suarez, whose own crypto efforts in Miami include a plan to pay residents a “bitcoin yield” from its city coin.
Meanwhile, Rio’s Secretary of Finance and Planning Pedro Paulo told O Globo that the city is also looking into offering a discount of 10% on property taxes paid with bitcoin.
Paes, who is serving a third mayoral term in the city that’s home to the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, also said the state of Rio de Janeiro, where the city of the same name is located, is separately planning to introduce tax exemptions to the industry, according to a report by Cointelegraph. “The government has a role to play,” he said.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Suarez spoke about transforming cities into technological hubs, according to O Globo. He has overseen initiatives in his city such as working to get crypto companies to move their headquarters and set up offices in the city.
Last year, Suarez outlined a plan to share with Miami residents some of the gains from its new cryptocurrency called MiamiCoin. The local cryptocurrency was launched in August through CityCoins, an open-source protocol that allocates 30% of its reward to cities when their coins are bought or mined.