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Rio de Janeiro Permits BTC Payments for Real Estate Taxes

If you’re a bitcoin lover and you own real estate in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, there’s a good chance you’re feeling pretty lucky right about now. The city government has announced that those who own real estate in Rio de Janeiro can pay their real estate taxes with bitcoin and other forms of crypto.
Rio de Janeiro Is Pushing Crypto Forward

The move is proof, once again, that Latin America and crypto appear to go hand in hand. Several countries in that neck of the woods, over the past few years, have done quite a bit to not only legalize crypto but push for higher usage, and now Rio de Janeiro is taking a huge step forward in making the initial goals of digital currency become realities.

While bitcoin and many of its altcoin cousins have taken on very speculative shapes over the past few years, it’s easy to forget that a lot of these assets were initially designed to be used for purchasing goods and services. They were designed to serve as payment methods that would push checks, credit cards, and fiat currencies to the side, but this has been a slow journey given how volatile they are. Many businesses and institutions, as a result, are reluctant to say “yes” when it comes to accepting crypto payments, and to a certain extent, we can understand why.

Consider the following scenario: a person walks into a business and purchases $50 worth of items with bitcoin. For one reason or another, the organization does not convert the BTC into fiat right away. 24 hours go by, and the price of bitcoin drops, causing that $50 to turn into $40. While the customer gets to keep everything they bought, the company has lost money. Is this fair? Not everyone thinks so.

Thanks to Rio de Janeiro and its regulators, the push for crypto payments just got a lot stronger. The acceptance of crypto for real estate taxes is occurring through a joint effort between Binance – the largest and most popular digital currency exchange in the world – and Eduardo Paes, the mayor of the city. In an interview, the chief executive officer of Binance Changpeng Zhao explained:

He (Mayor Paes) has done his share and we are doing ours.

Binance Will Help Out

City officials also took the time to chime in, claiming:

To facilitate the operation, the municipality will contract with firms that specialize in converting cryptocurrency to reais. In this manner, city hall will receive the whole amount in money.

Rio de Janeiro, despite its good intentions, still has quite a way to go if it’s going to compete with other Latin American nations such as El Salvador, which has done all it can to put bitcoin on the map. The country declared BTC legal tender last September and hasn’t looked back.

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Binance Launches Binance Bridge 2.0 to integrate CEFI and Defi

The service would allow users asset bridges of any block block to the BNB chain.

On March 29, the Centralized Cryptocurrence Exchange Bnance announced the Binance Bridge 2.0 impulse. The feature allows active users to tarnate any block block, even tokens that are not listed in the Binance application for the BNB chain. The bridges listed in billions will be stored in funding or in the portfolio to detect, while the not listed binding tokens will be transferred to the funding portfolio only.

Users can fill or bridge tokens between their native blocks of blocks and BNB chain through regular tank functions and removal. In the future, Binance also plans to create a better version of your mobile application to allow users to provide this conversion to facilitate through a single click. With regard to development, Mayur Kamat, Binance Manager, said:

"With Binance Bridge 2.0, we can make decentralized finances accessible to a larger public worldwide, while providing user-free user experience offered by centralized finance offerings. We are already seeing this through tremendous adoption of the Mini Pancheckap application.

Binance has also implemented a new automated token control system in Binance Bridge 2.0. The exchange will not maintain a surplus of fixed chips, also known as enveloped assets, except for a buffer size in hot portfolios. Instead, you will print additional tokens when users will remove fallen tokens into the BNB intelligent chain.

The company indicated that all other circulations will be supported by the native tokens deposited by the users of the original block tables. When users want to change the tokens glued to the original tokens, they can deposit the fixed sheets in the binave and remove the original tokens. Simultaneously, excessive tokens will be swept to the cold portfolio and will burn automatically.

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Russia may accept Bitcoin for gas export

Russia is moving away from the dollar and euro as payment options for its energy exports, and Bitcoin has been mentioned as a possible replacement alongside the ruble and national currencies of partner countries. A high-ranking lawmaker has indicated that Moscow may accept cryptocurrencies for natural gas and other resources.

Russian official mentions Bitcoin among alternative settlement methods for his gas

The Russian Federation has taken action in response to unprecedented Western sanctions imposed by the invasion of Ukraine. The energy-rich nation is now looking for other currencies to replace the US dollar and euro in its gas trade.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will ask “enemy” nations to pay in rubles for the natural gas they buy. EU member states, many of which rely heavily on Russian gas supplies for heating and power generation, fall into this category.

US and European sanctions are hurting Russia’s economy and fiat currency. Some of the measures target access to the global financial market and foreign exchange reserves. The ruble gained some lost ground after Putin’s announcement, as gasoline prices in Europe soared.

“If we can’t store a coin, acquire it, pay with it, why should we exchange it?” Pavel Zavalny, head of the Energy Committee of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, commented to Russian media on Thursday.

“Gas is just the beginning, it will affect other resources as well. If they want to buy what they pay for either in hard currency, for us that is gold, or in currencies that suit us, which is the national currency”, said the legislator.

Zavalny explained that agreements with friendly countries like China and Turkey can be made with the ruble or its currencies, the yuan and the lira. Serbia may pay in convertible foreign currency or Russian rubles. He further explained:

The set of currencies may vary and this is normal practice. If there are bitcoins, we will exchange bitcoins.

The official added that several European countries are now ready to buy Russian fuel with rubles. “For that, we just need to solve some organizational problems and sign additional agreements. Nothing changes in our obligations under the contracts. If they don’t pay for gas, there will simply be no gas,” said the parliamentarian.

Russia has been trying to reduce its dependence on the dollar even before the military crisis in Ukraine. In October, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told Interfax that Moscow could partially replace the dollar in its foreign exchange reserves and negotiate deals with other fiat currencies and potentially digital assets such as bitcoin. His comments came shortly after Putin himself said in an interview with CNBC that the cryptocurrency could be used for future oil trade deals.

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Canadian Internet Provider Oxio Says “Yes” to Cryptocurrency Payments

Oxio, an internet provider in Canada, became the first internet service company in the country to accept bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as payment methods.

Oxio Says “Yes” to Cryptocurrency

Oxio has partnered with Coinbase Commerce, a platform linked to the popular cryptocurrency exchange that allows merchants to accept digital currencies for goods and services. Marc-Andre Campagna, CEO and co-founder of Oxio, explained in a statement:

As the first independent digital ISP in Canada, it was easy for Oxio to offer its customers a payment method built for the people of the Internet. Canadians are increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies and we are happy to offer them a way to pay their bills with their preferred cryptocurrency, be it bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or others.

For now, the service is only available to people who want to pay their bills online. With that said, this is undoubtedly a breakthrough in the space, as many cryptocurrencies were initially designed as payment methods. They were created to do away with checks, credit cards and fiat currencies, although this has been a relatively slow ride as the volatility that often accompanies digital currencies has caused many companies to say “no” to cryptocurrency payments.

The fact is that many of these companies are at risk of losing profits if they accept bitcoin. Consider the following scenario: a person walks into a store and buys $50 worth of goods with BTC. For one reason or another, the company accepting the payment cannot immediately convert BTC into fiat currency.

24 hours pass and then the price of the asset drops, causing $50 to become $30. While the person can still keep everything they bought, the store has lost profits. Is this a fair scenario? Not everyone thinks so.

The idea that Oxio is now willing to take that risk and allow bitcoin payments is a big move on their part. Furthermore, the company is clearly realizing that the crypto space is becoming bigger than anyone could have predicted. More and more people are adding digital currencies to their wallets, with 30% of millennials buying cryptocurrencies in recent years.

Marc-Andre Campagna completed his statement with:

This initiative will allow Oxio to lead the charge, offering a crypto-friendly alternative in the connectivity space.

keep things up to date

The company has a history of updating its payment methods. Oxio initially started accepting credit card payments, although it changed things to allow customers to pay directly from their bank accounts. Now, cryptocurrency has been added to the company’s mix of potential options.

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The Bank of Russia allows Sberbank to issue digital financial assets

Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, has been authorized by the country’s monetary policy regulator to issue digital financial assets. The move comes amid tightening Western sanctions over the Ukraine war, including limiting Moscow’s access to the world financial market.

Sberbank added to the Register of Issuers of Crypto Assets of the Central Bank

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) added Sberbank, the country’s leading banking institution, to its register of information system operators authorized to issue digital financial assets (DFA). The term is used to describe various types of cryptocurrencies in the current legislation of the country. On Thursday, the commercial bank confirmed the news and elaborated:

The accounting and circulation of the DFA issued on the Sber digital assets platform will be carried out in an information system created from a distributed ledger using blockchain technology, which guarantees data security and the impossibility of replacing information.

The largest state-owned banking and financial services company detailed that other legal entities will be able to issue their own digital assets certifying monetary claims to attract investments. Companies will also acquire DFAs issued on the Sberbank platform and conduct other transactions with them in accordance with applicable regulations.

The “On Digital Financial Assets” law, which came into force in January 2021, regulated various activities related to cryptocurrencies, including the issuance of digital currencies and the raising of funds through tokens. However, it did not introduce rules for other major cryptocurrency operations such as mining, trading, and circulation in the Russian economy.

A working group in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has been preparing proposals to address the regulatory loopholes. In February, the Ministry of Finance introduced a new draft law “On Digital Currency” that aims to legalize investments in cryptocurrencies, but at the same time consolidate the ban on the use of cryptocurrencies for payments in Russia.

Amid mounting sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, including in the financial realm, concerns have been raised in the West that the Russian government and sanctioned individuals may turn to crypto assets as a tool to circumvent restrictions.

Recent statements by a member of the regulatory working group in Moscow confirmed Russia’s interest in employing digital currencies to restore its access to global finance. Russian authorities are now proceeding with efforts to legalize the country’s crypto space.