KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Fast food chain McDonald’s started to accept Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method in the 63,000-populated city of Lugano in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, which is becoming a hotspot for crypto adoption in Western Europe.

In a report on Tuesday (Oct 4), crypto industry new portal Cointelegraph said a one-minute video of ordering food on McDonald’s digital kiosk and then paying for it at the regular register with the help of a mobile app was uploaded on Twitter by Bitcoin Magazine on Oct 3.

It said the Tether (USDT) logo could be spotted next to the Bitcoin symbol on the credit cash machine, which is not surprising, as in March 2022, the city of Lugano announced it would accept Bitcoin, Tether and the LVGA token as a legal tender.

Cointelegraph said that on March 3, 2022, the city signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tether Operations Ltd, launching the so-called “Plan B”.

According to this plan, Tether has created two funds — the first one is a US$106 million, or 100 million Swiss francs, investment pool for crypto startups, and the second is around US$3 million, or three million Swiss francs — in an attempt to encourage the adoption of crypto 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, public services and tuition fees for students.

More than 200 shops and businesses in the area are also expected to accept crypto payments for goods and services.