Panama City Is Now Accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Payments

Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi wrote on social media that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) can now be used by citizens to pay their taxes

The capital of Panama, Panama City, is now accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) for taxes and certain municipal services, Mayor Mayer Mizrachi announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.

According to the mayor, residents of Panama City can pay their taxes, parking tickets, permits, and other fees with BTC and ETH, as well as stablecoins.

“Prior administrations tried to push a bill in the senate to make this possible, but we found a simple way to do it without new legislation,” wrote the mayor, adding, “Legally public institutions must receive funds in $, so we partner with a bank that will take care of the transaction receiving in crypto and convert on spot to $.”

Mayor Mizrachi trumpeted the move to accept cryptocurrency payments, saying it “allows for the free flow of crypto in the entire economy and entire government.”

Many municipalities and governments around the world are currently studying the feasibility of accepting cryptocurrency payments. However, few jurisdictions have actually begun doing so.

Panama City has made the move to adopt crypto payments at a time when prices are sliding lower and the sector looks to be in a bear market. BTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is currently trading around $85,000, down from an all-time high of $109,000 in January of this year.

Most Wall Street firms don’t offer ratings or price targets on Bitcoin, so we’ll look at the cryptocurrency’s three-month performance instead. As one can see in the chart below, the price of BTC has declined 19.49% in the last 12 weeks.

Is BTC a Buy?

At the current price of $85,000, most analysts recommend buying BTC. According to TipRanks, the technical analysis indicates a 10.00% upside potential in the next 12 months.

On the other hand, the majority of analysts recommend selling BTC at the current price.

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