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The mayor of Australia downplays cryptocurrency volatility and endorses it for rate payments.

06-Jun-2022 By: Rohit Tripathi
The mayor of Austral


The mayor of Australia downplays cryptocurrency volatility and endorses it for rate payments.

"The volatility isn't that bad," says Australia's Gold Coast Mayor, who argues that cryptocurrency could one day be used to pay municipal taxes.

Mayor Tom Tate of the Gold Coast, Australia, has suggested that people could use cryptocurrencies to pay local taxes in the future, however detractors have raised concerns about volatility and the current market fall.

Why can't we pay interest rates on cryptocurrencies if the risk is low? Tate posed the question to ABC Television, a local news station, on June 5, just over a week before the council's annual budget was due. The turbulence isn't as awful as it appears.

Tate was first elected Mayor of the Gold Coast, Australia's sixth-largest city, in 2012, and has since been re-elected for a second term in 2016 and a third term in 2020.

Critics have claimed, however, that the price volatility of cryptocurrencies in the midst of a market crisis could dampen excitement for using cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

Blockchain Australia's Adam Poulton told ABC News that the council would have to consider its risk appetite before accepting cryptocurrencies as payment.

He said that the last thing they'd want to do is receive $2,000 in rates and retain it in Bitcoin, only for the price of Bitcoin to halve.

The Mayor's remarks come as a growing number of towns and countries around the world are considering enabling crypto and central bank digital currencies to be used to pay local taxes and fees.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis announced intentions in April to allow residents to pay taxes using the Sand Dollar, the country's central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Residents in three major Chinese cities have began paying tax, stamp duty, and social security contributions using the country's CBDC, or digital yuan, in the same month.


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