Following El Salvador, City Of Lugano To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

By Kevin • March 7, 2022 5:46 pm • Comments

The city of Lugano in in Switzerland has recently announced the initiative to make Bitcoin legal tender making it follow the footsteps of El Salvador which was the first country in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender.

Citizens will be able to utilize Bitcoin to pay for a variety of services such as taxes or public service fees which marks a new milestone for Bitcoin.

So far, the city is bringing in over 200 merchants already to to help accelerate crypto adoption and hopes this imitative will help bring new economic benefits to the city.

Trending: Ripple Spells Out Penalty Terms To SEC

CoinJournal reports:

Citizens can now pay taxes in crypto, as well as parking tickets, tuition fees and public services. 200 businesses are also anticipated to accept payment for goods and services.

So, while Bitcoin is not on equal footing to the Swiss franc, I think its especially interesting that stable coins have been included as an option for citizens.

A repeated criticism of El Salvador’s decision was the detrimental impacts that Bitcoin’s notorious volatility would have when adopted as legal tender.

But with stable coins, price is obviously not a concern given the peg to fiat.

It gives citizens a neat extra option – want to hold your savings in stable coins, farming yield on a DeFi protocol, before seamlessly transferring over cash for your parking ticket? Well, that’s now possible.

The city has observed that the move to adopt Bitcoin tender in El Salvador had actually increased El Salvador’s GDP by 10% and its tourism by around 30%.

By doing the same thing, the city hopes to gain similar benefits and see what Bitcoin could do especially for a city that is located in the center of Europe.

If this move is a success, it could help set a foundation for other European cities or countries to follow suit and give a much needed alternative financial network.

In addition to Bitcoin, the city’s crypto adoption plan also involves Tether (USDT) and LVGA which is the city’s own stable coin.

BitcoinMagazine reports:

Poretti said the city would “roll the red carpet” for Bitcoin businesses and enthusiasts, welcoming visitors and prospect relocators with a business-friendly environment featuring minimized bureaucracy and the ideal conditions for a company to thrive.

Plan ₿ also provisions the creation of two investment funds.

The first will allocate up to $3.26 million to foster the adoption of bitcoin, USDT, and LVGA, the city’s stable coin worth one-hundredth of a Swiss franc which will also be legal tender in Lugano.

The second represents the formation of a pool of funds of up to $108.6 million for Bitcoin and blockchain startups that wish to relocate and set up their headquarters in the city as well as bring personnel to the Switzerland town.

Lugano is the second place in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, but it most certainly won’t be the last.

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

 

Search ProCoinNews