Panama City Will Accept Bitcoin, Ethereum as Payment for Public Services

Panama City plans to accept cryptocurrencies as payment for public services, signaling that lawmakers there and throughout Panama are adopting more crypto-friendly attitudes. 

The city's council passed a proposal this week enabling its local offices to accept payments in crypto, Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi said Wednesday in an X post. Under the new law, locals will be able to pay for taxes, tickets, permits, and fees with several digital assets, beginning with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the USDC and Tether (USDT) stablecoins. 

It is unclear if and when Panama City will accept other kinds of digital assets in exchange for public services.

A Panama City representative did not immediately respond to Decrypt's request for comment on the matter. 

“Prior administrations tried to push a bill in the senate to make this possible, but we found a simple way to [accept crypto payments] without new legislation,” Mizrachi said in the post. 

In order to facilitate crypto payments to its local government offices, Panama City will partner with banks equipped to receive digital assets and convert them to fiat, Mizrachi added. 

Panama City's pro-crypto push comes amid growing adoption worldwide of digital assets as mediums of exchange. 

In 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, with the Central African Republic following less than a year later. Meanwhile, Fiji and Tonga have explored recognizing the token as an official currency. 

In Switzerland, officials have also greenlit Bitcoin payments for some public services in a few of the country's regions.

Although Panama's capital has signaled it is warming up to virtual currencies, Panamanian lawmakers haven't always embraced crypto. 

In 2022, Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo partially vetoed a bill that would regulate Bitcoin and legalize decentralized autonomous organizations, sending the draft legislation back to the country's National Assembly for debate. 

He reasoned the bill “require[d] adaptation to the norms that regulate our financial system,” local media outlet La Prensa reported at the time.

Edited by James Rubin