According to Blockchain Australia's Poulton, the council should keep in mind risk tolerance before embracing cryptocurrency as a legitimate tax payment option.
On June 5, amid the current market turmoil, the Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate stated that citizens could use cryptocurrencies to pay their local taxes in the near future. “Why can't we pay rates on cryptocurrency if the risk is not high? The volatility is not that bad," the Mayor implied.
The Gold Coast, with its sunny and subtropical environment, is Australia’s sixth-largest city. It’s mostly known as a popular tourist destination noted for its world-class surfing beaches and rainforest hinterland. Tom Tate was elected Mayor of the Gold Coast back in 2012 and re-elected for a second term in 2016, and a third term in 2020.
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"It sends a signal that we're innovative and bring in the younger generation ... [but] I'm not saying we're doing it, I'm just saying we're always looking at the next level."
Adam Poulton, chair of industry body Blockchain Australia stated that cryptocurrencies are simply an alternative to any other currency. "Little bit of software, some applications, and you can accept Bitcoin as payment," he added. However, Pulton stated that the council should not forget about the risk appetite prior to accepting crypto as a legal tax payment method.
"The last thing they'd want to do is accept $2,000 worth of rates, hold it in Bitcoin and for the Bitcoin price to halve," Blockchain Australia’s chair implied. On top of that, Pulton suggested to the council an idea to accept 95% of a rates bill in Australian dollars and the other 5% in cryptocurrencies as they’re “happy to risk that other five per cent and actually hold that and see what future use cases could be used with it.”
An Associate Professor at the School of ICT, Griffith University, Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy implied that the adoption of cryptocurrencies in such fields has been extensively discussed. However, a significant amount of research still needs to be conducted as digital assets are still considered a “speculative investment.”
Back in March, the Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis announced that the country was working on implementing blockchain technologies, specifically crypto payments for products and services, and urged the government to find out if companies would be interested in paying taxes in cryptocurrency to Florida.
