There are plenty of things you can buy with Bitcoin, including tropical beaches and real estate. And you can even pay taxes in Bitcoin. Brazil has recently shown other countries how it is done.
Sceptics still say crypto isn’t real money. But they are wrong.
The idea of fiat money as a way to transfer assets from one form to another is perfectly utilized when you book your trip in trade for NFT or donate some tokens to the Ukrainian Army fighting with Russia.
There are pretty many things you can buy with Bitcoin or other crypto right now. And the list is growing constantly.
Sports stars take their salaries in tokens, and wealthy people are buying tropic beaches or diamonds with BTC.
Now Brazil allows to pay taxes with crypto. Which is unheard and truly stunning if you consider that just 10 years ago cryptocurrencies were no more than just a geeky toy.
Real estate taxes in crypto
Lately, Rio de Janeiro officials declared to become the first Brazilian city to accept bitcoin payments for taxes soon.
According to the Bloomberg report, Rio de Janeiro residents will be able to pay Brazil urban building and land Tax in crypto beginning from the next year.
The second-largest Brazilian city’s authorities currently looking for companies to provide crypto exchange services for those tax payments.
Supposedly, those crypto payments would immediately convert into fiat money. So municipality won’t hold any tokens in the treasury. At least for now.
The city’s mayor Eduardo da Costa Paes thinks crypto usage will boost the local economy. Back in January, he launched a working group focusing on how to accelerate crypto acceptance in the city.
New Municipal Committee for crypto investments will do all the risks management and regulatory frameworks development.
Soon we can even see the first Rio de Janeiro NFTs with images of tourist attractions.
Is Brazil the only true crypto country?
Not really.
El Salvador is the leading country in terms of crypto acceptance. Bitcoin is the national money there. Every service in the country is accepting payments in BTC.
Ukraine is quickly becoming a crypto country, having legalized digital assets amidst Russian military invasion.
Brazil itself is moving the same direction. According to some reports, the Brazilian Senate is closely watching a bill on crypto regulation.
The move to accept tax payments in crypto by Rio de Janeiro authorities will be warmly welcomed by Brazilians. The September 2021 survey showed nearly half of Brazilians wanted to make cryptocurrency official in the country.
Of course, taxes for real estate is just a small step.
But that’s just a beginning.
What else can you buy with Bitcoin?
Taxes payed in crypto might still sound beyond normal to many people.
But the list of things that can be purchased with crypto is growing constantly.
For instance, Tesla is selling their amazing electric cars with BTC. Elon Musk made a lot of noise tweeting about it last year.
Which was funny because some European auto dealers had been selling cars for crypto years before that. One of such companies had quite a simple price tag for Lamborghini Huracan. It said “10 BTC”. Just that simple.
Last summer somebody bought a 101-carat diamond at Sotheby’s auction for $12.3 million in crypto. That was the most expensive jewel ever purchased with crypto, and the buyer transferred a bit more than 351 BTC to finalize the deal.
Besides, there was a tropical beach in Australia for sale in crypto. The owner was selling a 162-acre block of land on the Coral Sea coast for 30 BTC or 440 Ethereum (roughly $2.2 million in December 2021).
In June 2021, a Miami penthouse was sold for $22.5 million in crypto, the largest sale ever paid for by virtual currency.
The famed Phillips auction house in Hong Kong recently listed a Banksy piece valued at $4.1 million for purchase in BTC or Ether.
So as you can see, expensive cars, luxury watches, or exclusive clothes are now available to buy with crypto.
In theory, traditional financial systems should be in a fury because of such money flows going past them.
That’s why we are looking forward to see more countries implementing crypto regulation.
Sources: Cointelegraph, ABC News, CNN