The capital of Panama is now accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes and certain municipal services.
Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi wrote on social media that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) can now be used by citizens to pay their taxes and for some services. Specifically, residents of Panama City can pay their taxes, parking tickets, permits, and other fees with BTC and ETH, as well as stablecoins.
“Prior administrations tried to push a bill in the senate to make this possible, but we found a simple way to do it without new legislation,” wrote the mayor in an X post, adding, “Legally public institutions must receive funds in $, so we partner with a bank that will take care of the transaction receiving in crypto and convert on spot to $.”
Free Flow of Crypto
Mayor Mizrachi trumpeted the move to accept cryptocurrency payments, saying it “allows for the free flow of crypto in the entire economy and entire government.” While many municipalities and governments around the world are studying the feasibility of accepting cryptocurrency payments, Panama City is one of the few jurisdictions to actually do so.
Panama City has made the move to adopt crypto payments at a time when prices are sliding lower and the sector looks to be in a bear market. BTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is currently trading around $85,000, down from an all-time high of $109,000 in January of this year.
Is BTC a Buy?
Most Wall Street firms don’t offer ratings or price targets on Bitcoin, so we’ll look at the cryptocurrency’s three-month performance instead. As one can see in the chart below, the price of BTC has declined 19.49% in the last 12 weeks.
