Belgian MP receives Bitcoin salary for a year: Here’s what he learned

At the extremity of January 2022, subordinate of the Belgian parliament Christophe De Beukelaer became the archetypal European person to person his wage to Bitcoin (BTC). Celebrating the day of this experiment, Cointelegraph reached retired to a lawmaker to cognize much astir his experience. 

Back successful 2022, Beukelaer, who represents Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) party, cited the illustration of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and however American politicians are moving to marque their autochthonal states oregon cities Bitcoin hubs to warrant his decision. The Brussels MP’s monthly wage of EUR 5,500 ($6,140) was to beryllium converted to Bitcoin utilizing the Bit4You crypto trading platform.

Related: Belgium says BTC, ETH and different decentralized coins are not securities

“I did this governmental enactment of paying successful Bitcoin to support governmental ideas,” shares Beukelaer, citing 4 ones: defending fiscal state and economical accidental and combating fiscal illiteracy and maturation model. The past 1 is possibly the astir interesting, arsenic the lawmaker, who’s calling himself a “pragmatic environmentalist,” sees a wide nexus betwixt Bitcoin and the biology clause:

“What does the cardinal slope bash erstwhile it prints wealth arsenic it has done successful caller years? It gives the illusion of infinite resources and frankincense encourages each economical actors to nutrient and devour much and more.”

Beukelaer considers his experimentation palmy successful some putting Belgium connected the planetary crypto representation and encouraging section officials to amended themselves connected integer assets:

 “A batch of politicians said to themselves: ‘De Beukelaer is not an anarchist. If helium is funny successful Bitcoin, determination indispensable beryllium thing absorbing down it.’”

Was it comfy successful applicable terms? The affirmative reply is hardly imaginable, fixed the BTC’s diminution from astir $38,000 successful Jan.2022 to $17,246 by property clip successful Jan.2023, but the MP didn’t respect his experimentation arsenic an economical strategy from the precise beginning:

“It was a governmental enactment and not a fiscal gesture. Like those who turn mustaches successful November to combat prostate cancer. I enactment this wage successful Bitcoin connected a acold wallet each period and I haven't touched it. My extremity was not to unrecorded successful crypto.”

While the archetypal large measurement to Pan-European regularisation is undertaken, Beukelaer highlights the reservations of the Markets successful Crypto-assets authorities (MiCA):  the excessive constraints imposed connected the idiosyncratic holding of crypto oregon the mode stablecoins are considered.

Europe is heading towards hard times, a person believes, citing the crises successful vigor proviso and climate, and the emergence of authoritarian leaders. It is successful that respect however Western countries volition gradually recognize the usefulness of crypto.