The city of Lugano partners with Tether for crypto adoption

The economic capital of Italian-speaking Southern Switzerland, the City of Lugano, has planned crypto adoption in the form of tax payments after partnering with the provider of the largest stablecoin, Tether, Tether Operations Limited.

As per the joint announcement by the two entities on Thursday, the blockchain-based platform Tether has joined hands with the Lugano administration. The two have established a Center of Excellence for Blockchain Adoption, aiming to make it a major European Blockchain hub. The partnership also aims to demonstrate real-world use cases of the technology by practically implementing it in the local community. They have plans to adopt crypto for payments and experiment with blockchain solutions on a large scale.

A recent study reveals that retailers are the major crypto payments adoption drivers.

To tackle the scalability challenges of its crypto city infrastructure, Tether and the city aim to use the Lightning Network, a second layer added to Bitcoin’s (BTC) blockchain.

Tether will also develop a multi-million dollar fund as part of the agreement to assist finance blockchain-based firms and blockchain services in the city. Tether will also offer its experience and support to the city of Lugano by collaborating with local universities and research institutions to deliver industry training.

Lugano aims to expand its fintech operations

The current relationship with Tether, according to Lugano Mayor Michele Foletti, will help the city scale up its fintech operations and growth. He stated that the city has been actively involved in crypto and blockchain technology in the past few years, citing its work on the LVGA Points citizen payment tokens, NFTs, and other blockchain advancements.

The city “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,” he added.

#bitcoin and stablecoins are revolutionizing the financial sector. #tether and The City of Lugano🇨🇭 @luganomycity are teaming up to transform Lugano into the European #bitcoin capital.

Every city needs a plan. Join Lugano's Plan ₿ pic.twitter.com/wmhFVePcPo

— Tether (@Tether_to) February 21, 2022

As previously reported, a number of cities and cantons in Switzerland, notably the Swiss canton of Zug and the municipality of Zermatt, allow people to pay taxes in cryptocurrency.