El Salvador in Central America is joining hands with the Swiss city of Lugano in the name of bitcoin. Both areas have vowed to push bitcoin education and adoption in their regions and see about implementing bitcoin use tools in neighboring countries.
El Salvador and Switzerland Are Working Together
Both regions have proven to be major bitcoin advocates in recent years. El Salvador initially made bitcoin legal tender in September of last year. The country initially experienced heavy resistance from organizations like the World Bank, which stated it would not be aiding the nation’s bitcoin agenda given the digital asset was too volatile, and thus couldn’t be taken seriously.
Nevertheless, El Salvador worked past this resistance and the many technical issues its Chivo wallet system endured, and it strived hard to make sure all businesses and companies within the country’s borders are fully enabled to accept BTC alongside USD, which the nation has long been dependent on. President Nayib Bukele stated that the implementation of bitcoin as a legal form of payment would help the country control its financial future and make remittance payments easier.
El Salvador has encountered several other barricades to its digital currency agenda as well, some of which stemmed from its own people. Several riots occurred in the streets of the nation’s capital San Salvador after they claimed the government was trying to force bitcoin usage onto their shoulders. Many were worried given bitcoin’s consistent ties to fraud and criminal enterprises, and they were allegedly worried about what could potentially come from their country.
Not long ago, a new poll came out claiming many people in the nation felt El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment was a failure, especially given the currency has fallen by more than 70 percent since reaching a new all-time high of about $68,000 per unit just over a year ago.
Despite all the rigmarole, it appeared El Salvador’s hutzpah was enough to inspire other regions to follow in its footsteps, a big one being Lugano. A city in Switzerland, the area announced in March of this year that it was going to make bitcoin legal tender and enable businesses to be able to accept assets like BTC and the stable currency Tether for purchases.
Boosting Crypto Adoption
Discussing its newfound ties to the controversial stable asset, Lugano officials said:
The memorandum of understanding signed between Lugano and Tether will encourage the adoption of blockchain technology on a local level and will allow the citizenry to pay taxes and fees for all services in bitcoin, Tether or stable coins based on the Swiss franc… Together, the two partners will work to achieve the shared goal of increasing the city’s blockchain capabilities and promoting Lugano as a new hub for the adoption of blockchain at a European level.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/el-salvador-and-switzerland-are-working-to-boost-crypto-adoption/