New York City would become the first major municipality in the country to accept Bitcoins as payment if a Manhattan lawmaker gets his way.
City Council Member Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) is introducing a bill on Thursday that would allow residents to pay for any fines and fees they owe the city using Bitcoin – an increasingly popular but wildly fluctuating digital currency.
This could include parking tickets, court fees and other similar charges.
“Today you can buy almost anything with Bitcoin,” said Levine. “For young, internet-savvy people, it’s become the currency of choice,” he added. “This would convey to the world that New York is on the cutting edge.”
Levine said the proposal wouldn’t just help attract additional tech jobs and companies to the city, but it would also save the Department of Finance millions of dollars in processing fees — which are higher for credit cards than for Bitcoin.
He also touted the privacy protections of the cryptocurrency, which isn’t regulated by a central bank.
The Dept. of Finance, which collects over $30 billion in revenue annually, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
But the agency recently suggested it’s at least open to the idea.
In December, the Dept. of Finance publicly requested information about alternative methods to pay for fines using a mobile device – including ApplePay, Paypal and Bitcoin.
In its request, which focused on parking tickets, the finance department noted that it collects roughly $600 million annually from parking fines and penalties each year.
“Although there are currently multiple channels through which individuals may pay or dispute their parking tickets, DOF is interested in learning about mobile solutions that would allow for the payment and adjudication of parking tickets via a smartphone or other mobile device,” the agency said in its request for information – which is a preliminary step of a long process.
In recent months, the town of Madeira Beach, Fla. became among the first municipalities to accept Bitcoin at its marina. It’s working to set up pay stations and Bitcoin ATM machines this year, according to a spokeswoman.
Last week, a Republican state House member in New Hampshire introduced a bill that would require the state to prepare to accept Bitcoin for payment of taxes and fees by mid-2017.
Levine has a more ambitious timeline for the city – through an intermediary financing agency – to begin accepting Bitcoins.
He says it could take up to a year to roll out, but hopes it could be done in six months.