Residents of Richmond Hill, Canada, now have the option of paying their municipal taxes with Bitcoin. This was made possible after the town formed a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinberry.
Richmond Hill’s Council on July 10, voted in favor of providing an option for businesses and residents to make property tax payments using Bitcoin. This partnership is the first of its kind, making Richmond Hill the first city and the second Canadian municipality to create such an option for its residents. Deputy Mayor of Richmond Hill, Joe Di Paola, moved the motion for the inclusion of a crypto payment option before the City Council. He added that he believes cryptocurrency awareness and use will increase with time. This partnership is Coinberry’s second property tax partnership in about six months. The exchange first partnered with Innisfil to become the first Canadian town to accept Bitcoin for tax payments. Paola said:
“Our Council was aware of Coinberry’s successful implementation of a digital currency payment service with the Town of Innisfil, and since there was no cost and no risk to the City of Richmond Hill to do the same, it made the decision that much easier for us.”
Modus Operandi
A new payment option will be added on the council website for crypto payments. This option will make it possible for residents and businesses to make payments in bitcoin. Other cryptocurrencies will be added in the near future. All crypto payments will be made via the city’s digital wallet with Coinberry Pay. The funds will be converted immediately to Canadian dollars and transferred to the city’s bank account.
Co-founder and CEO of Coinberry, Andrei Poliakov, expressed great excitement about the partnership with the city. He said:
“We are very happy to be entering into a partnership with our second Canadian Municipality. Leaders of government and enterprise organizations are realizing that, with the right partners, they can innovate with blockchain and digital currencies. We’re pleased to be working on additional innovative solutions with leading enterprise and municipal partners, and have a number of very exciting initiatives we will be announcing over the next several months.”
