Vancouver Mayor’s Bitcoin Reserve Dream Hits Legal Wall
Vancouver metropolis workers have really helpful that councillors drop Mayor Ken Sim’s Bitcoin movement, which ordered work on accepting funds in BTC and exploring a Bitcoin reserve for a part of the town’s funds.
Bitcoin: “Not An Allowable Investment Asset”
In a report released on March 2 reviewing outstanding council directions, the Vancouver workers has deemed Bitcoin as a “not an allowable funding asset for the City”, suggesting that the Mayor Sim’s movement to show Vancouver right into a “Bitcoin pleasant metropolis” needs to be concluded. The report additionally asks council to de-prioritize among the 78 motions handed since 2019 a part of a broader clear‑up of excellent instructions.
The rationale for this, as acknowledged by the report, is a “reprioritization of workers and assets” and the necessity for “coordinating and aligning work with associated initiative(s)”: the objective is to cut back the town’s spending by optimizing inside capability.
City workers again these conclusions with the Vancouver Charter, the provincial regulation that units out how municipal funds might be invested.
Inside The Vancouver Charter
The B.C. Ministry of Municipal Affairs has clarified that the Community Charter and the Vancouver Charter “don’t acknowledge cryptocurrency as cost for municipal providers or different transactions,” so cities shouldn’t deal with BTC like regular cash on their steadiness sheets.
The ministry has additionally acknowledged that native governments “should not permitted to carry monetary reserves in cryptocurrency” as a result of crypto shouldn’t be on the listed of permitted funding automobiles specified by the provincial laws.
Under section 183 of the Community Charter, which the province applies to native governments’ funds, eligible investments are cited as issues like Municipal Finance Authority securities, pooled funds, federal or provincial bonds, assured financial institution merchandise and related high‑grade devices. There is just no authorized class that may cowl Bitcoin or different unstable digital property, which doesn’t imply that it’s prohibited: it merely doesn’t exist within the regulation.
The Bitcoin Dream: A Bitcoin Friendly City
Mayor Sim’s Bitcoin motion pushed through in December 2024. Sim, who’s an investor in a cryptocurrency alternate, stated he believed investing in Bitcoin was “the financially accountable” factor to do amidst inflation and market volatility. He went as far as to pledge a private 10,000‑greenback Bitcoin donation to seed a municipal reserve, publicly lauding BTC as one of the crucial essential monetary improvements of the period.
It can be irresponsible for the City of Vancouver to not have a look at the deserves of including bitcoin to the town’s strategic property to protect the town’s monetary stability.
What’s Next?
The workers was presupposed to report again to council within the first quarter of 2025, however till the cited report, no different was made public.
The Vancouver metropolis workers suggestion will land at council on March 10. Mayor Sim might be pressured to resolve whether or not to burn political capital defending his BTC agenda or watch his Bitcoin desires be shelved and dismissed by his personal administration.
Cover picture from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview
