Following the decision of the mayor of Lugano to make Bitcoin ($BTC) and tether ($USDT) \u201cde facto legal tender\u201d in the Swiss city, it is now possible to pay with these two cryptocurrencies at both McDonald\u2019s restaurants over there.<\/p>\n
Lugano is \u201ca city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino.\u201d It is \u201cthe largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland.\u201d Lugano has a population of around 62,000, and it is the ninth largest city in Switzerland.<\/p>\n
On 3 March 2022, CoinDesk reported that \u201caiming to become Europe\u2019s Bitcoin capital, Lugano, Switzerland, has formed a partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether to establish bitcoin, Tether and Lugano\u2019s own LVGA Points token as\u00a0essentially legal tender\u00a0in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report went on to point out that this decision is more significant than the move by some cantons (such as Zug) to accept tax payments in crypto.<\/p>\n
What Lugano seems to want to do is similar to what El Salvador is trying to achieve, i.e. having all local businesses routinely accept crypto as a means of payment, but not as far making Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency legal tender (since that is a decision that can only be taken at the federal level and therefore highly unlikely in the near to medium term future).<\/p>\n
Well, yesterday, Bitcoin Magazine sent out a tweet with an embedded video that showed how easy it was to pay at McDonald\u2019s in Lugano with either Bitcoin or Tether.<\/p>\n
On 22 September 2022, Tether Operations Limited (\u201cTether\u201d) and the City of Lugano announced that \u201cthey will be giving away 1 Bitcoin to Plan B Forum ticket holders at the upcoming conference,\u201d which is taking place 28-29 October 2022, and that \u201cthree lucky ticket holders at the Forum will have the opportunity to win up to 1 Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain ballot prize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, had this to say:<\/p>\n