TL;DR:
- Bitcoin is not a permitted investment asset for Vancouver under the Vancouver Charter and British Columbia’s Municipal Finance Authority Act.
- Mayor Ken Sim proposed in 2024 adding bitcoin to the city’s reserves as an inflation hedge; the council approved the motion with six votes in favor.
- Officials left open the possibility of Vancouver accepting BTC payments for taxes or fees, provided they are immediately converted to Canadian dollars.
The Vancouver mayor’s proposal to invest municipal reserves in Bitcoin hit a legal wall before reaching a formal council decision. A report prepared by city officials, led by Colin Knight, general manager of the Finance and Supply Chain Management Department, conclusively determined that BTC is not a permitted investment under the Vancouver Charter.
The document recommends shelving the 2024 motion through which Mayor Ken Sim sought to make Vancouver a “bitcoin-friendly city.” The proposal had been approved by the council with six votes in favor and two against.
Section 201 of the Vancouver Charter restricts the investment of idle municipal funds to a limited set of instruments: federal or provincial government securities, state-guaranteed bonds, municipal debt, bank-guaranteed investments, credit union deposits, and certain pooled investment vehicles.
British Columbia’s Municipal Finance Authority Act complements that framework, limiting eligible assets to bonds, debentures, deposit certificates, and promissory notes. Equities, commodities, and cryptocurrencies are expressly excluded from the scheme.
One Path Still Remains Open for Bitcoin: Tax and Fee Payments
Sim’s initiative was born in part as a response to concerns over the loss of purchasing power of public funds. The original motion argued that Bitcoin, with its fixed supply of 21 million units, could serve as a hedge against inflation and monetary devaluation. However, that argument lost traction due to market volatility: BTC fell approximately 50% from its October 2025 peak, when it surpassed $126,000, retreating to late-2024 levels.
One minor point remains unresolved: whether Vancouver could accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for taxes or fees, on the condition that it is immediately converted to Canadian dollars. The charter regulates how funds are invested, but not necessarily how payments are processed, which leaves that avenue open.
