Lugano after a year in its Bitcoin and Tether standard

It has been a year since the Swiss city of Lugano established Bitcoin and Tether (USDT) as de facto legal tender within its borders. Since then, how has your adoption initiative fared?

On Monday, Tether published a breakdown of various milestones the city has reached around crypto infrastructure and education under “Plan B.”

• According to Tether mail, more than 150 merchants in Lugano now accept Bitcoin, Tether and LVGA, Lugano’s Swiss Franc-pegged stablecoin, for payments. The Plan B Foundation plans to expand acceptance to 2,500 more merchants by the end of 2023.

• Lugano also issued the first blockchain-based municipal bond. The 6-year debt issue, worth 100 million Swiss francs ($107 million), can be traded directly on the SDX exchange, owned by Switzerland’s financial market infrastructure provider.
• for the initiative original plansCity municipal services now accept cryptocurrency payments, helping foster a circular economy for cryptocurrencies.
• In education, Tether organized a summer school for 86 students from 26 countries to learn about cryptocurrency from experts and provided 500 grants to further their learning.
• Summer school students were also given the opportunity to connect with potential employers at the Plan B job fair, connecting blockchain industry employers with inactive talent.
• The Plan B Forum, a conference focused on expanding Bitcoin adoption, took place in October 2022 and was home to over 1,000 Bitcoin. lightning network transactions, 130 USDT transactions and 200 LVGA transactions.
• So far, two countries have officially established Bitcoin as legal tender: The Saviorand the Central African Republic (CAR).