Key Takeaways:
- An adoption-based economic pact has been signed between El Salvador and Lugano, a crypto-friendly city.
- Increasing collaboration between El Salvador and Lugano in research and development is one of the partnership’s anticipated objectives.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between El Salvador and the Swiss city of Lugano aims to increase the use of bitcoin in both of their homelands as well as neighbouring states.
The largest city in Switzerland’s canton of Ticino is Lugano. Strategically situated between the cities of Milan and Zurich, they are also the economic centre of Southern Switzerland. Being committed to the deployment and use of cryptocurrencies is one of the qualities that makes Lugano so appealing as a thriving financial powerhouse.
The declaration was made on the opening day of the debut Tether Plan forum in Lugano, Switzerland.
Tether and El Salvador announced a relief fund in April of this year to assist Salvadoran families affected by gang violence. Tether has supported a number of programs to increase people’s access to cryptocurrencies throughout El Salvador, including the upcoming Adopting Bitcoin conference.
El Salvador’s ambassador to the United States, Milena Mayorga, made the announcement about the opening of a “bitcoin office” in Lugano on Friday while speaking at the Forum . The office will be staffed by a new Honorary Consul who will spread the word about bitcoin throughout the city, Italy, and Europe.
The partnership is anticipated to advance El Salvador and Lugano’s collaboration in research and education, assist efforts to promote the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their target countries, and promote participant and talent exchanges between the two countries.
Speaking on the opening panel of Plan B Forum with Lugano Mayor Michele Foletti, Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer of stablecoin issuer Tether, said that the city’s adoption of bitcoin (BTC) is “working well.”
Joaqun Alexander Maza Martelli, El Salvador’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, explains that the adoption of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology opens up new avenues for development and investment that advantage our communities.
It is a cutting-edge substitute financial and exchange tool that encourages trade and the provision of services in a globalised world. Due to this agreement, El Salvador is now much “closer to Europe”, he asserted.
To that end, Ardoino stated that it was more crucial that things ran smoothly for the early adopters than it was to quickly achieve widespread use. He now projects that in the first quarter of 2023, 1,000 businesses in Lugano will be able to accept bitcoin.
The agreement, according to former Blockstream Chief Strategy Officer Samson Mow, is the “next step” in the adoption of BTC by cities and countries. In essence, Mow believes that’s how alliances should be formed with other places that have adopted Bitcoin in order to carry forward the announcement altogether.
