Panama City Officially Accepts Bitcoin & Ethereum to Pay for Public Services, but There’s a Plot Twist!

Updated

April 17, 2025

Gambar Panama City Officially Accepts Bitcoin & Ethereum to Pay for Public Services, but There’s a Plot Twist!

Jakarta, Pintu News – A bold move comes from Panama City. The Panamanian capital officially authorized the use of Bitcoin , Ethereum , USD Coin , and Tether to pay for public services such as taxes, permits, and fines.

This revolutionary decision was passed by a vote in the city council, making Panama City the first government institution in the country-and one of the first in the world-to accept cryptocurrency-based payments for official services. But wait, there’s one important plot twist you need to know!

Ingenious Mechanism: Pay in Crypto, Government Still Receives Dollars

🇵🇦 Panama City council has just voted in favor of becoming the first public institution of government to accept payments in Crypto.

Citizens will now be able to pay taxes, fees, tickets and permits entirely in crypto starting with BTC, ETH, USDC, USDT @APompliano @aantonop…
— Mayer Mizrachi (@Mayer) April 15, 2025

Although citizens can now use digital assets for government transactions, by law, public institutions in Panama are still required to accept payments in US dollars (USD).

To combat this, Panama City has partnered with local banks that will instantly convert crypto payments into USD when the transaction occurs.

Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi explained that with this system, the city government remains compliant with existing regulations without the need to change the law.

“This enables the free flow of crypto across economies and governments, without having to face legislative constraints,” Mizrachi said on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

Big Momentum: From Legislative Failure to Local Innovation

Efforts to legalize the use of cryptocurrencies as legal tender in Panama have actually started several years ago.

In 2022, the proposed law on crypto payments briefly gained momentum, but was ultimately declared “inapplicable” by the Supreme Court in 2023.

Now, instead of waiting for national regulations that may not come, Panama City has decided to take the initiative into its own hands. This is a clear example of how local cities or regions can lead the adoption of cryptocurrencies amidst national legal uncertainty.

There are limitations: Crypto Only Passes, Not Held by the Government

crypto payments panama city — Generated by AI

However, the system is not without its drawbacks. Since crypto payments are directly converted into USD by the partner bank, the city government itself does not actually store or manage the crypto assets.

That is, this crypto adoption is more cosmetic than transformational for government balance sheets.

Critics are concerned that this scheme might just result in mass liquidation of crypto in the global market without providing any long-term benefits to Panama’s domestic crypto ecosystem.

Some analysts also argue that if Panama really wants to become the crypto capital of the world, it needs to build deeper integration into its economy, rather than simply accepting payments through third-party conversion.

Overall, despite its limitations, Panama City’s move remains an important milestone in the history of global crypto adoption. It could serve as an example for other cities in Latin America-and the world-to innovate in merging cryptocurrencies with the traditional financial system.

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