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Vancouver city staff are taking stock of what council motions they should work on for the rest of the year — and one of the motions on the chopping block is a pet project from Mayor Ken Sim.
In December 2024, council passed a motion by Sim asking staff to explore options to make Vancouver “bitcoin-friendly,” including converting some of the city’s financial reserves into the cryptocurrency, with all ABC councillors voting in favour.
The motion said for staff to report back to council in the first quarter of 2025, but no report was made public.
Now, a separate report from staff is asking council for permission to de-prioritize some of the 78 motions passed since 2019 in order to free up staff resources or reduce spending. And the bitcoin motion is on the list.
“Staff have conclusively determined that under the Vancouver Charter, [bitcoin] is not an allowable investment asset for the City, and therefore recommends that this work be concluded,” the report reads, one of the only motions championed by the mayor and his ABC majority that was recommended for postponement or removal.
The report says that the rationale is “reprioritisation of staff resources” and “[co-ordinating] and aligning work with related initiatives.”
Sim’s 2024 motion stated that converting some of the city’s financial reserves would be a financially responsible thing to do, and that the cryptocurrency was a “potential hedge against inflation … due its capped supply and growing adoption in the global economy.”
He even promised that his family would donate $10,000 worth of bitcoin personally to the city after the motion.
But experts cited numerous concerns over the proposal, especially given the cryptocurrency’s volatility and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with blockchain, the cryptocurrency’s underlying technology.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim made appearances on several podcasts in late 2024 and early 2025 to promote the city becoming bitcoin friendly. (Composite)’I already thought it was dead in the water’
Pete Fry, the only sitting councillor who voted against the bitcoin motion, said he was surprised that staff included it in the report because he assumed it had already been rejected.
“I already thought it was dead in the water,” he said.
“It was probably good closure to have it mentioned in here, but I don’t even know that it was entirely necessary.”
Coun. Pete Fry said he had assumed the bitcoin motion had already been rejected. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
While Fry supported staff’s recommendation, he was disappointed to see certain other motions suggested for the chopping block.
That includes a motion passed in 2024 from then-councillor Christine Boyle to install suicide-prevention fences on the Granville Street bridge, which was recommended to be de-prioritized due to funding constraints.
The full report on the proposed cancelled or scaled-back motions can be found here.
WATCH | Coverage of Sim’s motion in December 2024:
Vancouver looking at how to become more bitcoin-friendly
Vancouver city staff have been asked to explore how to make the city bitcoin-friendly. The idea was floated by Mayor Ken Sim. He wants the cryptocurrency to become part of the city’s financial plan. Chad Pawson explains.
‘Greatest invention ever in human history’
One of the reasons for Fry’s belief that the initiative had already been stopped was B.C.’s Municipal Affairs Ministry telling CBC News in December 2024 that local governments weren’t permitted to hold financial reserves in cryptocurrency.
It explained that legislation specifies how public funds can be invested or reinvested, and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not among the approved options.
“The intent of the legislation is that local government funds are not exposed to undue risk,” a ministry spokesperson said.
The Municipal Affairs Ministry had told CBC News in December 2024 that bitcoin isn’t permitted to be held in municipal financial reserves. (Scott Neufeld/CBC)
Sim, who’s an investor in a cryptocurrency exchange, went on more than 10 podcasts in the months before and after his motion was passed, and called bitcoin “the greatest invention ever in human history” and said his motion was “a hill that I’m willing to die on.”
But in recent months, the mayor has toned down the bullishness with which he once championed the bitcoin motion.
When CBC News spoke to Sim in January of this year and asked about progress on the motion and whether he still believed it was the greatest invention in human history, Sim said there were bigger priorities for council to focus on this year.
“It’s super important. And right now, public safety, affordability — those are two big things that we have to work on,” he said.
CBC News has reached out to Sim’s office for their thoughts on city staff’s new recommendation and the status of Sim’s $10,000 donation.
Councillors have to approve staff’s de-prioritization of some of the 78 motions, and the staff recommendations will be heard at a council meeting on March 10.