Belgian MP Christophe De Beukelaer Converts Wages To Bitcoin, Becoming The First In Europe To Do So
The trend of accepting salary payments in cryptocurrencies seems to be expanding among legislators in different parts of the world. Christophe De Beukelaer, from the Belgian capital Brussels, has become the first politician from Europe to convert his salary into Bitcoin tokens. The MP monthly withdraws 5,500 EUR (approximately Rs 4.5 lakh), or 0.17 BTC. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is being traded for $36,416 (approximately Rs 27 lakh) on the international exchange CoinMarketCap.
Beukelaer posted a thread about Twitter handle, explaining that this is his way of showing his confidence in the cryptocurrency sector.
“The US and Asian giants are investing heavily in crypto. And the EU? Are we still going to wake up in 10 years and find that we missed the train? Centralized trade finance is not going away. These two worlds must cooperate,” one of his tweets said.
The leader from the Belgian Center for Humanitarian Democracy chose the crypto exchange Bit4You to exchange his salary for Bitcoin, One report by CoinTelegraph said.
However, this is not the first time a lawmaker has decided to receive his salary as a crypto asset.
In another of her tweets, Beukelaer expressed her gratitude to Eric Adams, mayor of New York City in the United States for inspiring him to take this pro-crypto step.
Adams chose to take salary like Bitcoin with the aim of bringing more pro-crypto measures in NYC.
Before, Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami made it to the headlines for liking Bitcoin payments. Earlier last year, Suarez said that Miami was planning to pay its government employees in Bitcoin while also allowing citizens to pay city taxes in cryptocurrency.
While the trend of receiving money with crypto assets continues to grow among politicians, the trend has become popular among sports stars.
This month, NBA players Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala decision to receive part of their next salary in Bitcoin tokens
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s The Dallas Mavericks team has been accepting digital asset payments via BitPay since 2019.
In May 2019, Russel Okung from the National Rugby League (NFL) became one of the first sportspeople to request payment in Bitcoin. His need was met a year later in 2020.
Pay me in Bitcoin.
– Okung: 100: (@RussellOkung) May 14, 2019
In 2021, American soccer player Aaron Rodgers along with Odell Beckham Jr also decided to receive their compensation in the form of Bitcoin tokens.
Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency that is not a legal tender and is subject to market risk. The information provided in the article is not intended and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any kind provided or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV will not be liable for any loss arising from any investment based on any recommendations, forecasts or any other information contained in the article.
