McDonald's starts accepting Bitcoin and Tether in a Swiss town

The global fast-food chain is among the first to participate in a crypto-friendly experience in the city of Lugano.

Multinational fast-food chain McDonald's has started accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as a form of payment in the 63,000-person city of Lugano in Italian-speaking Switzerland, which is becoming a hotspot for crypto adoption in Western Europe.

A one-minute video showing how to order food from McDonald's digital kiosk and then pay for it at the regular checkout using a mobile app was uploaded to Twitter by Bitcoin Magazine on October 3. The Tether (USDT) logo could be spotted next to the Bitcoin symbol on the credit card machine, which is not surprising, because in March 2022 the city of Lugano announced that it would accept Bitcoin, Tether and the LVGA token as legal tender.

On March 3, 2022, the city signed a memorandum of understanding with Tether Operations Limited, launching "Plan B". According to this plan, Tether has created two funds – the first is an investment pool of $106 million, or 100 million Swiss francs, for crypto startups, and the second is around $3 million, or 3 million Swiss francs, in an attempt to encourage crypto adoption for shops and businesses across the city.

In addition to allowing Lugano residents to pay their taxes using crypto, the project will extend payments to parking tickets, utilities, and student tuition. More than 200 shops and businesses in the region are also expected to accept crypto payments for goods and services.

Related: Swiss Post Banking Branch Develops Internal Cryptocurrency Custody Platform

Speaking to Cointelegraph in June, Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether and Bitfinex,