E-Gov Link, a hosted application provider for government agencies, says it is integrating bitcoin payments into its suite of products, paving the way for local governments to let citizens pay their bills with the digital currency.

E-Gov Link said it made the decision following the recent US Department of the Treasury’s guidance on parameters for virtual currencies.

“Credit card purchases tend to carry high transaction costs due to the middle-man and due to the high costs of fraudulent online purchases,” said Bill Nadler, president of E-Gov Link. “Fraudulent purchases typically aren’t a major issue for municipal services, and so having a payment option that doesn’t carry that heavy transactional cost is definitely a plus. It’s one more option that progressive municipalities will offer their citizens.”

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, E-Gov Link provides web-based software applications to help municipalities track citizen requests, handle permitting and manage parks and recreation services. Its clients include the Illinois suburb of Skokie; Dearborn Heights, Michigan; and West Chester, Ohio.