The city of Lugano will allow citizens to pay taxes in crypto, and Bitcoin, Tether to become de facto legal tender in Lugano

In order to accelerate blockchain adoption in Europe, Tether Operations Limited (Tether), a technology company that supports the blockchain-enabled token that is the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization (USD), and the vibrant Swiss city of Lugano announced on Thursday the establishment of a center of excellence for blockchain adoption in Europe.

The collaborative effort aims to drive city-wide adoption of blockchain technology, so citizens are able to pay annual taxes and city services with bitcoins, tether and selected stablecoins based on Swiss francs.

Tether and the City of Lugano will collaborate toward a shared goal of scaling the city’s blockchain capabilities. This will help promote Lugano as a major hub for the adoption of blockchain in Europe.

In order to contribute to the financing of blockchain-based startup companies as well as blockchain services in the region, Tether will set up a multi-million dollar fund as part of the partnership. In addition, Tether will provide its expertise and support to the city of Lugano. This city aims to provide industry education through cooperation with universities and research institutions on a local level.

With the help of Tether, the City will integrate Lightning Network into its public services as one of the solutions to be introduced into the public services. With Lightning Network, we’ve been able to create a well-known, highly scalable, and robust payment system that overcomes the scalability problems associated with the blockchain without compromising security or privacy in any way.

The newest partnership with Tether, launched by Lugano’s Mayor Michele Foletti on Thursday, will enable the city to scale up its fintech efforts and further develop its fintech ecosystem. The mayor explained that the city of Lugano has been actively involved in the crypto and blockchain area in recent years, including its work on LVGA Points citizen payment tokens, non-fungible tokens, and other blockchain developments.

Lugano is investing in its future. In recent years, we have already implemented blockchain-based solutions including the MyLugano app and its LVGA Points payment token, the Lugano digital franc and the 3Achain blockchain infrastructure.

Michele Foletti – Mayor of Lugano

The City of Lugano is introducing Bitcoin, Tether, and its own LVGA token as legal tender.

A live stream and a tweet were used to announce the update dubbed “Lugano’s Plan B” by the Swiss city and Tether, respectively. A press release confirmed that Lugano citizens and businesses will soon be able to pay for goods, services, and taxes using Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA. A third party intermediary will convert the crypto assets into local fiat when citizens use crypto assets as a currency.

With Plan B, Lugano and Tether hope to make Lugano a hub for blockchain adoption in Europe. By joining together, Lugano and Tether are hoping to demonstrate to local residents the real-world utility of blockchain. It was reported that Tether’s “first actual full-scale use case in an urban environment” would be the collaboration.