Could Vancouver's public funds be used for investments in cryptocurrency?

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has apparently expressed interest in cryptocurrency investments.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Sim announced a notice of motion he'd be presenting Dec. 11 titled, “Preserving the Cities Purchasing Power Through Diversification of Financial Resources Becoming a Bitcoin Friendly City."

When asked for more information Thursday, the mayor’s office said that due to the final motion not being submitted yet, Sim did not have any additional details to share.

While details are scant, it’s being welcomed by some in the industry.

'Pro-Bitcoin' mayor

Dustin McNulty, who puts on Bitcoin meet-ups with BTC VanCity, said he spoke with Sim Thursday about the proposal.

“He’s very pro-Bitcoin,” he said. “He wants Vancouver to come on board and be a friendly city to the space.”

McNulty said one of the ideas the mayor has is to purchase Bitcoin using public funds to be held in a reserve fund.

“That seems to be the goal, so we’ll see where that goes, but it’s exciting,” he added.

It seems some in the industry were aware of the motion previously. Tech entrepreneur Jeff Booth, speaking in an X Spaces event called “Bitcoin First,” alluded to Sim’s plans on Tuesday.

“The mayor of Vancouver is going to put a motion to add bitcoin to the balance sheet of Vancouver city.”

Someone else responds, “No way that’s wild.” https://x.com/i/spaces/1MnxnDNWXqNGO/peek

'It's not their business'

Andreas Park, a finance professor at the University of Toronto, cautions against this kind of investment strategy.

“I don’t actually like it when government officials, in any form, invest public money in anything,” he said. “It’s not their business to do.”

Park said he believes government could instead focus on technologies like blockchain, a type of infrastructure or ledger of transactions that anyone can view and verify.

He said blockchain could be used to make payments in a Canadian dollar-type asset as an alternative way for people to transfer their funds without a bank account.

“This could be useful for immigrants,” he said. “There’s already a lot of technologies out there that can be responsibly and usefully deployed, and enabling that and allowing that would possibly lead to growth in the space.”

This isn’t the first time Sim has expressed interest in cryptocurrency. During his 2022 mayoral campaign, his ABC Party accepted cryptocurrency-based donations.

“We want to demonstrate our commitment to technology both in terms of embracing it to help improve service at City Hall and to promote Vancouver as a tech centre,” said Sim, in an April 2022 press release.