Bitcoin payment is to be adopted by Rio de Janeiro by 2023 for taxes on real estate. This comes after Binance reveals that it has opened an office in the region.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s largest city, will begin taking Bitcoin (BTC) payments for taxes on residential and commercial real estate within the municipal limits, also known as the Imposto sobre a propriedade predial e territorial urbana (IPTU).

According to a report, the new pro-crypto tax rules will take effect in 2023, as indicated by Chico Bulhes, Secretary of Economic Development, Innovation, and Simplification.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced the opening of a new office in the region in support of this initiative led by Brazilian Mayor Eduardo Paes, noting that he has done his part.

Rio de Janeiro will be the first Brazilian city to accept Bitcoin payments once the project is fully implemented. According to the announcement, which has been translated:

“To enable the operation, the municipality will hire companies specialized in converting crypto assets into reais. In this way, the City Hall will receive 100% of the amount in the currency.”

Brazilian secretary Pedro Paulo further acknowledged that the city’s goal — with the acceptance of cryptocurrencies — is to develop a solid market of this new asset class in the city, adding:

“We will stimulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies by integrating them into the payment of taxes, as in the case of IPTU and, in the future, this can be expanded to services such as taxi races, for example.”

The city also intends to implement governance laws based on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) across a variety of areas, including arts, culture, and tourism.

It could be recalled that Meta, the world’s largest social media platform, filed a trademark registration with the Brazilian authorities on Jan. 29 to create, develop, and provide hardware and software for various Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related services.