The City of Vancouver's plan to allocate a portion of its municipal reserve funds to Bitcoin has been completely shelved due to legal obstacles, never even making it to the formal agenda of the City Council. On March 6, the City's legal counsel issued a formal opinion stating unequivocally that, under current regulations, Bitcoin cannot be used as an investment tool for public funds. This conclusion stems directly from the limitations of the provincial legal framework, rather than policy preferences or political disagreements.
According to the Community Charter and the Vancouver Charter, the provincial government has not listed cryptocurrencies as reserve assets that municipal bodies can legally hold. This means that even if the entire City Council supported it, it would not be possible to approve a Bitcoin reserve plan under existing laws. As a result, the municipal team has recommended withdrawing the proposal and plans to formally vote to terminate the initiative at the parliamentary meeting on March 10.
It is worth noting that there is a limited exception in the regulations: the City may accept Bitcoin as a method of paying taxes and fees, but must immediately convert it to Canadian dollars upon receipt and deposit the full amount into official accounts. In other words, citizens can choose to pay taxes with Bitcoin, but the City is not allowed to hold any digital assets. This mechanism only provides a symbolic “crypto-friendly” image and does not actually grant the city any asset allocation rights or market risk exposure. Whether to promote the implementation of this payment channel in the future remains to be seen after the parliamentary resolution on March 10.
In contrast, other regions in North America are accelerating the exploration of Bitcoin as a public reserve. During the same period, the State of Wyoming in the United States has launched a plan to allocate state treasury funds to Bitcoin, and Indiana has also approved pension funds to hold Bitcoin. At the federal level, the United States is also exploring the feasibility of establishing a national strategic Bitcoin reserve. Behind these developments is a more flexible and forward-looking legislative environment, while Vancouver's dilemma highlights the structural lag in the acceptance of digital assets in the Canadian local financial system.