McDonald’s will accept payments in Tether and Bitcoin in Lugana, Switzerland
The American multinational fast food chain McDonald’s has started accepting payments in Bitcoin and Tether in the Swiss city of Lugana, populated by around 63,000 people. The announcement comes in a chirping by Bitcoin magazine on October 3. And it posted a video of a customer ordering food using a McDonald’s kiosk and paying for it using a mobile digital wallet app. The credit card machine used to scan the QR code to proceed with the payment was marked with Bitcoin and Tether.
Although the cryptocurrency’s low prices have shaken the spirits of many, crypto adoption, on the other hand, continues to gain more ground, undermining the downtrends in the market. Similar to El Salvador’s move to make Bitcoin a legal tender, the Swiss city of Lugana, based on its Italian-speaking population, is set to become the latest crypto adoption hotspot in Western Europe.
Related reading: Kardashian’s EthereumMax lawsuit turns against SEC chief
The latest development is part of the city’s vision to transform its financial infrastructure into a digital ecosystem. Therefore, the city of Lugana signed a memorandum of understanding with the stablecoin issuer Tether on March 3. The collaboration resulted in a common ground plan B. And it aims to accelerate the process of enabling Bitcoin and USDT payments for goods, taxes and services in Lugana city.
McDonald’s among other firms that support BTC and USDT payments
The Tether has settled two funds of $100 million and $3 million to support Plan B. The funds will provide investment opportunities to startups and increase crypto adoption by merchants and stores across the state.
Furthermore, Plan B Foundation has partnered with Go Crypto, a point-of-sale solution that will set the channels for citizens to use Bitcoin and Tether in their daily activities with an aim to expand crypto growth in the regime.
Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, talked about McDonald’s initiative to integrate Bitcoin and Tether payments;
Earlier this year, Lugano and Tether signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a strategic collaboration through several initiatives, including to help local businesses integrate their existing payment services with the permitted stablecoins and Bitcoin. We have worked together to ensure that the technological infrastructure is in place to support this, and today we are seeing all that hard work come to fruition.
By the end of 2022, the foundation expects to include around 2,500 new businesses and merchants to the lightning network. It will allow Lugana residents to use Bitcoin, Tether and LVGA in payments.
Related Reading: Why Bitcoin Miner Earnings Are the Biggest Loser in the Bear Market
Notably, the fast food chain has already started accepting Bitcoin payments in El Salvador, a nation that made Bitcoin a legal tender in September 2021. People in El Salvador use Bitcoin to order their burgers. McDonald’s customers in the state can also order their food online and through delivery apps targeting all 19 locations of the food chain in the state.
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com
