Buenos Aires Opens to Crypto Payments

The city of Buenos Aires announced a series of measures to become a crypto hub in Argentina and Latin America. As part of the move, citizens will be able to pay municipal taxes and other duties in crypto, modernizing the city’s payment system.

Buenos Aires Targets Global Crypto Leadership With Incentives

Crypto adoption is now also moving at a municipal level, with cities adopting a crypto-friendly stance. The city of Buenos Aires recently announced a series of measures aimed at becoming a worldwide leader in cryptocurrency adoption, given the high level of crypto natives living there.

According to city figures, more than 10,000 residents receive payments in cryptocurrency, demonstrating a high level of adoption of these technologies. BA Crypto, as the new program is called, will allow payment of municipal taxes, including housing and permit fees, and even driving licenses and traffic fines in crypto.

The new payments platform already includes a QR-based payment system that allows some local wallets to access the city’s system. In the future, the government will implement a universal payment core that will enable payments to be executed from any crypto wallet.

The program also includes the simplification of crypto taxes and incentives for virtual assets service providers (VASPs) and crypto companies to settle in the city.

Jorge Macri, head of the government of Buenos Aires, highlighted the relevance of this move, noting that it will increase the city’s visibility among the crypto native crowd. He declared:

The goal is for the city to become a world leader in crypto. We already have the human capital, and now we’re creating the tools by reducing bureaucracy to facilitate taxpayer compliance and support the arrival of new companies that are setting up here.

The city had already signaled in favor of a similar measure in 2022, when Horacio Larreta, the former head of the government of Buenos Aires, stated that they had decided to implement tax payments with crypto as part of a city-wide digitalization push.

Read more: Buenos Aires Confirms It Plans to Allow Citizens to Pay Taxes With Cryptocurrency