Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim plans to invest city reserves in Bitcoin A staff report said this is not permitted under the Vancouver Charter and British Columbia’s Municipal Finance Authority Act.
A briefing released ahead of the March council meeting recommended scrapping a 2024 proposal to make Vancouver a “Bitcoin-friendly city” after staff determined the plan violates municipal investment rules embedded in the city’s chargers. Staff wrote that they “conclusively determined that under the Vancouver Charter, Bitcoin is not an acceptable investment asset for the City.”
This finding reflects the highly restrictive framework that governs how Canadian municipalities can invest public funds. Section 201 of the Vancouver Charter allows the City to invest passive funds only in a narrow set of instruments such as federal or provincial government securities, government-guaranteed bonds, municipal loans, bank-guaranteed investments, credit union deposits and certain pooled investment vehicles.
British Columbia’s Municipal Finance Authorities Act strengthens the restriction.
Municipal investment pools are limited to conservative assets such as government bonds, municipal securities, bank deposits and high-rated commercial paper.
The law defines eligible securities as bonds, debentures, certificates of deposit and promissory notes, which represent structures built around fixed income and cash equivalents. Stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies are not included.
A narrower question remains unresolved: whether Vancouver can still pursue the soft branding goal underlying the proposal by accepting Bitcoin for taxes or fees, provided that the cryptocurrency is instantly converted into Canadian dollars.
While the charter controls how city funds are invested, it does not necessarily control how payments are processed.