Australia’s Mayor Disregards Crypto’s Instability and Recommends It for Rate Payments

The volatility of cryptocurrency is not all negative. The Mayor of Australia’s Gold Coast suggested that people can use crypto to pay taxes one day.

Australia’s Mayor Keen on Accepting Crypto For Tax and Rate Payments

Critics have raised concerns about cryptocurrency’s volatility and recent market meltdown. But, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said that people could use bitcoin in the future to pay municipal taxes. Why can’t people pay interest on cryptocurrencies if the danger isn’t too great? On the eve of the city council’s annual budget presentation on 8th June, Tate spoke to ABC News, a local media station. The volatility isn’t as awful as it appears.

For the past four years, Tate has served as Mayor of the Gold Coast, the country’s 6th largest city. He got re-elected for a second term in 2016. In 2020, he got re-elected for a third term. He went on to say that while the transfer wasn’t confirmed, they were making plans.

It conveys a message that we’re forward-thinking, and it attracts the younger generation. Even though we don’t do it, I can claim that we’re always aiming for the next level. Crypto price volatility could discourage interest in accepting crypto as payment.

Adam Poulton told ABC News that the council should consider its market volatility. But, that will be before accepting cryptocurrencies for payments. He said that accepting $2K in rates and holding it in Bitcoin would be a bad idea if it caused the BTC price to halve. The Mayor’s remarks come as countries consider enabling crypto and CBDCs for payments. In April, Bahamian PM Philip Davis said plans to let residents pay taxes with the CBDC, the Sand Dollar.

People in three of China’s biggest cities are using digital yuan for payments. They’re using it to pay taxes, stamp duties, and social security premiums. Several other countries are exploring or planning to use crypto for tax payments. Some of those countries are Lugano, the CAR, Colorado, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.

ANZ and NAB Will Not Embrace Crypto Retail Suspicion

2 Australia’s “big four” banks said they’d not enable their retailers to trade cryptos with ANZ. Australian “big four” banks have canceled enabling retail clients to trade BTC. One rationale is that users don’t grasp basic financial well-being.

Maile Carnegie commented on Tuesday at the Australian Financial Review Banking Summit. She said that most retail clients don’t understand basic financial well-being ideas.

Are we going to make it simpler and reduce friction? Are we supporting gambling on cryptos? Specifically, those who don’t understand basic financial ideas? No, she replied. Carnegie said ANZ had been considering a BTC product since 2017, and she was glad we didn’t jump in head first.

When asked if NAB would consider enabling crypto trading, Angela Mentis replied. She said, not short and not for retail. But, added that institutional clients are currently using blockchain technology. Australian banking giants ANZ and NAB are working on stablecoins based on the AUD by 2022. 

Both stablecoin efforts from prominent banks will first target institutional investors. For example, A$pilot DC’s activity was a 30M AUD transfer. CBA aims to develop a retail cryptocurrency trading program. Matt Comyn said that it still had “intent” to deploy the service despite the hurdles during the summit.