TL;DR Breakdown
- Williston to accept crypto payment for utility bills.
- More tech adoption to be recorded by Williston.
Williston, a city in North Dakota, USA, has announced plans to begin accepting crypto payment for utility bills from residents. It becomes the first city in North Dakota to adopt crypto payment.
Hercules Cummings, Williston City Finance director, said they have partnered with BitPay, one of the largest crypto payment service providers in the U.S., to help them convert the coins from crypto to fiat in real-time.
Crypto payment steps for Williston
Firstly, the city council said it would monitor how residents respond to crypto payments as only utility bills are going to be paid with crypto.
The city said if residents respond positively to making payment for utility bills with crypto, it would be expanded. They would begin accepting crypto payment for landfills, permits, and licenses.
Residents who intend to pay utility bills are to visit website of the city of Williston, enter their account information to receive an emailed BitPay invoice, and choose their digital wallet and the crypto in which they want to pay.
Rebate citizens can enjoy using crypto to pay utility bills is reduced commission as Exchanges only charge 1 percent for every transaction, unlike other payment services, which can charge up to 3 per cent.
How North Dakota keeps embracing new tech
The city finance director said that his city is only responding to a growing trend and technological changes.
He revealed that crypto represents an innovation for the city’s finance department and a significant step to take the lead in the state and nationwide. Cummings also said that it is just one out of many things that will be rolling out of the finance department.
Williston is the third government entity in the U.S. to embrace cryptocurrencies as adoption takes a fast pace in the country. Wyoming is one of those states, which registered Ripple as an entity and has several crypto-friendly laws.
