The announcement was made this afternoon at Lugano’s Plan B event.Read MoreFeedzy
Aiming to become Europe’s Bitcoin capital, Lugano, Switzerland, has formed a partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether to establish bitcoin, Tether and Lugano’s own LVGA Points token as essentially legal tender in the city.
The move goes far beyond the actions of a number of other Swiss localities that for some time have been accepting crypto for tax payments. Somewhat similar to El Salvador, Lugano – in addition to allowing crypto for taxes – is aiming to have all of its businesses seamlessly use crypto for everyday transactions (in El Salvador, only bitcoin qualifies).
At Thursday’s “Plan B” event, which was hosted by Lugano’s mayor, Michele Foletti, the move was described as a “de facto” legalization, as the Swiss franc will surely remain the actual legal tender in Lugano and elsewhere in Switzerland.
Also announced at Plan B were plans for the Bitcoin World Forum to be held in Lugano on Oct. 26-28.
Switzerland’s ninth-largest city with a population just over 62,000, Lugano is in the Italian-speaking southern part of the country.
UPDATE (March 3, 18:20 UTC): Added additional details of the event in third graph.
DISCLOSURE
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
Alexander Vinnick, the Russian national who was one of BTC-e's operators, pled guilty to conspiracy…
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency in the market, has experienced a notable resurgence in its…
Crypto expert Michaël van de Poppe has made a bullish case for Bitcoin as he…
Originally published on Unchained.com. Unchained is the official US Collaborative Custody partner of Bitcoin Magazine…
Some analysts were frightened by the recent drop in Bitcoin prices. Though the coin is…
Crypto analyst DonAlt has listed four altcoins he will buy once he believes that Bitcoin’s…