City of Vancouver to probe investing in Bitcoin, accepting it as payment

globalnews.ca:

Vancouver city council has voted to explore ways to make the municipality a “Bitcoin-friendly city.”

The motion approved Wednesday won’t mean the city is investing or accepting payment in cryptocurrency any time soon, but will instead direct staff to look into those possibilities.

The proposal passed along party lines with Mayor Ken Sim, who proposed the initiative, and his ABC Vancouver councillors in support, and two Green councillors opposed.

Thirty-four people signed up to speak to the motion, many of them enthusiastic supporters of the technology.

In an interview with Global News before the vote Sim, an avowed crypto evangelist, said exploring the idea was “the most responsible thing to do.”

“Bitcoin is the number one performing asset on the planet over the last 16 years, so to not even look at including it as a part of a diversified portfolio is, I think, reckless,” he said.

“Let’s just put it this way: it’s inevitable that this (widespread Bitcoin adoption) is going to happen. So I think the decision for Vancouver and the province and the country (is) do we want to be leaders or do we want to be laggards?”

The mayor told Global News he believes the cost of living is rising because government-backed currencies are becoming “debased” — something cryptocurrency could hedge against.

Sim, who said he used to be a cryptocurrency skeptic, claimed to have spent “10,000 hours” researching the topic, and acknowledged “it represents a part of our family’s portfolio.”

The mayor’s 2024 financial disclosure shows investments in Coinbase Global, a crypto trading platform, and Purpose Bitcoin ETF, a Canadian Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

On Wednesday, he pledged to make a $10,000 donation of Bitcoin to the city regardless of