Miami-Dade County property owners can now pay their tax bills in bitcoin, under a program announced Monday by County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez. The office accepts the cryptocurrency both online and in person, but converts every transaction into U.S. dollars before the money reaches the county.

In a statement published on the Tax Collector's website, Fernandez described the change as a way to give property owners another payment option without putting public funds into the asset. To pay in bitcoin, a taxpayer selects the cryptocurrency option during online checkout or requests it at the counter, then connects a supported exchange account or digital wallet and authorizes the payment. A third-party system converts the bitcoin into U.S. dollars at the time of payment, the office said, meaning the county never holds, invests in or manages any cryptocurrency. The office still receives the full dollar amount owed and records the transactions in its standard payment reports, with no county workers maintaining digital wallets.

"Government must keep up with the times and the needs of the people we serve," Fernandez said. "By accepting Bitcoin as a payment option, we are giving property owners another way to pay their taxes, whether online or in person, while continuing to offer the traditional payment methods they already know and trust."

He added that the office is "embracing new technology without compromising our responsibility to protect taxpayer dollars." Whether a taxpayer pays in bitcoin or by a conventional method, he said, "our office receives the full amount owed in U.S. dollars."

The office did not name its payment processor or say whether bitcoin payments carry a convenience fee. Those details could factor into how taxpayers weigh the new option against the payment methods the office already offers. Card and mobile-wallet payments already carry a nonrefundable 2.50% fee online, with a $2.50 minimum, according to the office's payment-methods page. Traditional options, including checks, cards, cash and fee-free eChecks, remain available. The announcement covers property taxes only, and using the cryptocurrency option is voluntary.

JUST IN: Miami-Dade now accepts Bitcoin for property taxes and can be paid both online and in person pic.twitter.com/lI285z4B79 — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) November 10, 2026

A 4% Discount Is Still on the Clock

The change landed in the middle of Florida's property tax collection season. Miami-Dade opened the 2026 tax roll on Oct. 30 and is urging owners to pay by Nov. 30 to lock in a 4% early-payment discount under Florida law. The discount falls to 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February, with the full amount due in March. Unpaid bills generally become delinquent on April 1.

Under the office's existing rules, discounts are based on the date a payment is submitted online or in person. Because bitcoin is accepted through those same online and in-person channels, a crypto payment falls under the same submission-date rules as other methods. Fernandez has been promoting a "Save the Max" campaign built around that calendar, noting that an eligible $5,000 tax bill would save $200 if paid in November. Payments can be made at the office's 13 locations, through T-Connect mobile units, or online around the clock at mdctaxcollector.gov.

Miami's Long Courtship of Bitcoin Payments

The move closes a loop the county opened years ago. In 2021, Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins put forward a resolution to study letting residents pay county taxes and fees in bitcoin, after Miami Mayor Francis Suarez pushed to let residents pay city fees and taxes in the cryptocurrency and explored paying city workers with it. The city of Miami also launched MiamiCoin, a token tied to the Stacks protocol, as part of that campaign.

Fernandez, who was elected in November 2024, had earlier served on Miami-Dade's Cryptocurrency Task Force, according to his official biography.

The Tax Collector's office described Miami-Dade as one of the first government agencies in the country to accept such payments. Colorado has taken cryptocurrency for state taxes since 2022, converting it to dollars through a third party, and Utah later opened a similar option for individual income taxes. Detroit announced in 2024 that it would begin accepting cryptocurrency for city taxes and fees in mid-2025, also settling in dollars.

Florida lawmakers, meanwhile, revived a 2026 bill to create a state Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve after a 2025 effort was withdrawn. The Senate measure, CS/SB 1038, died in an appropriations committee in March and never became law.

For now, Miami-Dade is opening a narrower door: bitcoin can be used to settle a property tax bill, and the county keeps none of it. The identity of the payment processor and the question of any bitcoin-specific fee remain open, practical details to watch as the collection season runs toward the March due date.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Micah Zimmerman.