The town of Innisfil, Ont., will soon become the country’s first municipality to accept cryptocurrency as a method of payment for property taxes.
At a meeting on Wednesday evening, town councillors voted in favour of forming an agreement with Toronto-based company Coinberry Limited, who will provide the service for Innisfil residents as part of a one-year pilot project.
According to a news release issued by the town, the new payment option should be ready sometime in April, when many residents pay their second instalment of property taxes.
“Once again, we are proud to be first in taking this bold step by offering this new, exciting payment option to our residents,” Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin said in the release. “There’s no doubt that cryptocurrency is growing in usage and popularity. By getting into this now, we are making sure our municipality is ahead of the game, and signalling to the world that we truly are a future-ready and innovative community.”
According to the town, beginning in April, residents will see a new payment option appear on the town’s website, where users will have the option of paying with bitcoin. Other cryptocurrency options such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple could be added in the future.
Residents can access the Town of Innisfil’s digital wallet with Coinberry Pay, and pay their taxes using Bitcoin.
Coinberry will then process the funds in accordance with strict adherence to existing financial regulatory requirements, and the funds will be instantly converted to Canadian funds and transferred to the town.
“Leaders from all levels of government who are first to recognize the benefits of the ‘new money economy’ will be the first to reap the rewards,” Coinberry CEO and co-founder, Andrei Poliakov, said in the release.
“We are extremely pleased at achieving a milestone in the history of adoption of cryptocurrency in Canada.”
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