El Salvador, the first country to make Bitcoin a legal tender, is set to establish a BTC embassy in the pro-crypto city of Lugano. The Swiss city signed an economic cooperation agreement with the South American Country in Lugano’s Plan B Event. The collaboration is based on blockchain and cryptocurrency.
El Salvador’s ambassador to the US, Milena Mayorga, said that her country is opening a Bitcoin office in Lugano. It will be staffed with a new honorary consul.
The first-of-its-kind Bitcoin office will be represented by Josue Lopez.
The city of Lugano announced in March of 2022, that it will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), and LGVA tokens as legal tender. Lugano is a city of about 63,000 people in southern Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino region. Several businesses like McDonald’s have already started accepting crypto payments.
Two Separate Locations with One Vision
Lugano’s blockchain collaboration is part of its Plan B, a joint effort with Tether to accelerate the city’s crypto adoption. Crypto is not only used as payment for retail purchases but can also be utilized for tuition fees, tax, and city services payments.
Tether’s CTO Michele Foletti says that everything is going well and they expect to have 1000 Lugano merchants accepting crypto by first quarter of 2023.
El Salvador has been in the headlines for its pro-crypto stance. Its president, Nayib Bukele, has been in the radar of the crypto community for his visionary approach toward Bitcoin. He is the primary advocate for creating a geothermal-powered Bitcoin City, which is envisioned to be a crypto innovation center and BTC mining Hub
El Salvador and the city of Lugano are located on different continents, but they share the same vision. The vision of using blockchain technology to improve the lives of their residents. The memorandum of agreement between the two will enable the two to learn each other’s best practices.
An embassy is defined as “a group of government officials, headed by an ambassador, who represent their government in a foreign country”. The diplomatic mission is responsible for political, social, and economic relations between the two states. Lugano and El Salvador have just redefined it with their new Bitcoin Embassy. Instead of just dealing with foreign affairs, the new office will deal with Bitcoin and blockchain technology exchanges. Maybe someday this will the standard for foreign relations.
Image from Unsplash
