Note that investing public money in Bitcoin could also end up causing problems for the local economy. In particular, the day before Moody's analysts criticized El Salvador's purchases of BTC. Firstly, these investments have now brought the country millions of dollars in unrealised losses.

Second, the dependence of parts of the economy on Bitcoin makes government bonds unattractive to other countries. In the end, it may lead to inability to repay debts and more trouble. Read more about the experts' criticism in a separate article.


Which cities are investing in Bitcoin

Here’s a quote from a Paes announcement published by news outlet Cointelegraph.

We are going to launch Crypto Rio and invest 1 per cent of the city’s budget in cryptocurrency. The government will play a key role in this process.

Accordingly, the mayor has made it clear that the initiative will be supported by the authorities. It is not difficult to understand the positive attitude towards digital assets: after all, cryptocurrencies do not depend on the actions of other governments, some of them have a limited maximum supply, in addition, the coins show serious growth over a long period of time.

Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes

In addition, the mayor wants to provide tax exemptions for businesses related to cryptocurrencies. Paes didn’t go into detail, but we can assume that it’s about preferential terms for miners, investors and crypto traders.

Overall, Bitcoin has been a hot topic of discussion in Brazil lately. Some politicians even want to legalise it completely, as was done in El Salvador last year.

Bitcoin on the streets of El Salvador

The popularity of crypto has grown significantly in the US as well – according to a recent study by analysts at Huobi Group, around 70 percent of digital asset owners among Americans bought their first coins just last year. Experts surveyed around 3,100 citizens of the United States in mid-December and have only now shared the results.

The final results showed that 68 percent of respondents invested in crypto for the first time last year. 21 percent started buying coins a maximum of two years ago. 12 percent of survey participants bought their first cryptocurrency within the last four years and only 9 percent had invested in crypto even earlier.

The average amount invested in all of the above groups is relatively small – less than $1,000 according to 46 percent of respondents. Another 25 percent have invested up to $10,000 in coins. The rest have made larger investments.


From this we can conclude that each new wave of popularity of digital assets attracts more and more investors to the industry. And obviously, it won't end with the niche's current results. At the very least, it continues to evolve and develop new platforms and services that truly improve people's lives.


Cryptocurrency investment statistics in the US


We think that investing a small percentage of your overall investment portfolio in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for states and cities makes sense. After all, digital assets can outperform other asset classes over the long term. And in the event of a prolonged niche downturn, such an investment would have little impact on a state's economy because of its relatively small size. So the possible choice of Rio de Janeiro seems well justified.


Keep an eye on our Millionaire Crypto Chat to stay updated on new ways to make money in the crypto-sphere. There we will discuss all the important topics that affect the world of digital assets and the most popular coins in particular in one way or another.