Residents of Innisfil, Ont. can now pay their tax using cryptocurrency, in a move thatâs made the town the first municipality in the country that accepts Bitcoin.
The town entered a one-year pilot project this month, partnering with Coinberry Pay, a Toronto based crypto currency company to process bitcoin payments for property taxes.
While a quiet lakeshore town of about 36,000 people may not seem like a hotbed of cutting-edge technology, itâs just another step forward for the Ontario town.
âWe developed a bit of a reputation for not being afraid to try new things,â Mayor of Innisfil Lynn Dollin told ŰÎŰ´ŤĂ˝ Channel.
The town has previously partnered with ride-sharing company Uber to create a tax-subsidized, on-demand transit system for the town, saving the town an estimated $8 million annually in transit costs.
After that success, they entered a pilot project with Rover Parking app, in an effort to try and curb illegal parking that causes road blockages in the town.
While cryptocurrency has been controversial recently, with the sudden collapse of one of Canadaâs biggest cyryptocurrency exchanges QuadrigaCX following the death of the companyâs CEO, Dollin says that safety is at the forefront of the townâs mind.
âWe have to be careful â weâre responsible for taxpayersâ dollars,â Dollin said. âSo certainly we donât want to bring any risk to the taxpayers.â
The payment system developed for Innisfil has the town not actually holding any of the currency, and as a result they donât take on any of the risk of a constantly changing market.
If there is fluctuation in the currencyâs value before the payment is sent and before itâs processed, the burden is on the payer.
If a resident sends their payment, but the value of the cryptocurrency drops before itâs deposited into the townâs account, the onus is on the payer to cover the difference, whereas if the value rises the town will refund any additional money.
While itâs unknown whether any of the townâs residents have taken advantage of the new system yet, itâs a move that has Canada and the rest of the world watching.