Bitcoin News: Vancouver Rejects BTC Reserve Plan After Staff Raise Legal Barrier

Key Insights:

• Bitcoin news: BTC is not an allowable investment under the Vancouver Charter, staff said.
• City staff urged council to abandon the reserve plan and consolidate related efforts.
• Bitcoin’s massive decline undermined the inflation hedge case behind the proposal.

Vancouver city staff have suggested abandoning a proposal to hold Bitcoin in municipal reserves. The Bitcoin news came after a review of the city’s legal investment powers under the Vancouver Charter. Staff said Bitcoin does not qualify as an allowable municipal investment. The issue now goes to the city council for a final decision at its scheduled meeting.

Bitcoin News: City Staff Rejects BTC Reserve Proposal

City staff said the city cannot legally store Bitcoin in its financial reserves. Their review was led by Colin Knight, general manager for the Finance and Supply Chain Management Department. The findings were detailed in a motions update report on Monday.

According to the Bitcoin news, staff concluded that BTC is not an allowable investment under the Vancouver Charter. That conclusion directly challenges the city’s prior attempt at exploring Bitcoin reserves. As a result staff advised council to drop the proposal in its current form.

Source: Vancouver City Council

They also suggested combining the motion with others that are linked. Staff said that step would help the city to reprioritize resources and focus on matters within its legal authority. The final decision now rests with the council members.

According to Bitcoin news, the proposal had attracted attention due to the notion of municipal adoption of BTC in a major Canadian city. However, during the staff review, the debate shifted from strategy to legal compliance. That change now seems likely to determine the fate of the motion.

BTC Plan Faces a Major Setback

Notably, Mayor Ken Sim first proposed the motion in late 2024. He presented it under the title of Preserving Purchasing Power through Reserve Diversification and Becoming a Bitcoin-Friendly City. The measure aimed to examine whether Bitcoin could make the city’s financial resilience.

At the time, the motion was approved by the council with a six-to-two vote. That result suggested significant political support for studying Bitcoin as part of Vancouver’s reserve strategy. Still, the vote did not resolve the issue of whether the city could legally take action on the idea.

Now, the newest review could stop the proposal before a reserve plan even starts. Staff did not concentrate on the time of markets or future price potential. Instead, they based their recommendation on the legal limits defined in the city charter.

That distinction matters because it alters the argument around the proposal. The question is no longer whether Bitcoin will increase over time. The question is whether Vancouver has the power to hold it at all.

Inflation Hedge Case Has Weakened Since 2024

When the motion was introduced, proponents said that Bitcoin could help protect the city from inflation. That view was based on Bitcoin’s finite supply and the fact that it has been likened to digital gold for a long time. The proposal defined Bitcoin as a decentralized, secure asset with potential as a hedge.

However, the market has changed radically since then. Bitcoin price has fallen around 50% from its October 2025 peak of over $126,000. It has fallen back to late 2024 levels and briefly hit lows of around $60,000.

Bitcoin Price Chart | Source: CoinGecko

That decline has undermined the inflation-hedge argument for Bitcoin, at least in the public policy debate. A reserve asset must typically provide stability, liquidity and legal clarity. Bitcoin’s price fluctuations over the past year have made it more difficult for city officials to defend that case.

Municipal governments are often subject to stricter standards than private investors. They handle public money and must abide by strict rules governing capital preservation.

Nonetheless, there are still supporters who could find long-term potential in Bitcoin. They claim that the temporary losses cannot cancel its non-elastic supply or its greater deployment. However, that opinion did not seem robust enough to override the legal conclusion of city employees.

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