This Swiss city wants to become the bitcoin capital of Europe
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
There's a Swiss city where you can get by almost entirely on Bitcoin. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino.
What makes Lugano a potential Bitcoin capital in Europe?
The picturesque Swiss lakeside town of Lugano is positioning itself as Europe's Bitcoin capital. In 2022, the city launched Plan B, aiming to attract crypto companies and Bitcoin currency itself to the city. You can still pay for everything in Swiss francs, of course, but in hundreds of shops and restaurants, you can also pay in Bitcoin.
How can you pay with Bitcoin in Lugano?
The city has even started accepting it to pay for municipal services. The BBC's John Lawrenson went to check it out.
In a McDonald's by the lake in the centre of Lugano, a customer orders coffee. The salesperson holds up what looks like a credit card payment terminal, but which is in fact a special crypto one distributed free to businesses by the town council. The customer pays contactless from the Bitcoin wallet on his telephone. 0.00008629 Bitcoin it comes to.
What challenges exist for using Bitcoin in daily life?
A figure constantly changing because of the currency's notorious volatility.
So, is that a receipt?
Bitcoin, this purely digital currency that uses encryption to control, manage and issue units, as opposed to so-called fiat money used by central banks or governments. People often buy it as an investment, a gamble, in other words, on its value going up, as opposed to down, as it has quite a lot recently. But how many even think about using it to buy actual things like a diamond ring or a pizza? Well, in Lugano, it's different.
I want to talk about an experiment I did this July.
How did one resident experience living on Bitcoin for 11 days?
I have a problem with my bank. I had to live in Bitcoin only for 11 days.
Mia Liponi runs the Plan B Hub, a meeting place for people who work in the Bitcoin sector.
You can survive in Bitcoin only. It's missing public transportation at the moment, which is really important. Another one is fuel. Groceries are okay.
What are the local opinions on Bitcoin and its impact?
I got things delivered at home even. Plenty of medical places, but not the dentist. And another big thing are bills. You cannot pay bills with Bitcoin.
Although you can pay for municipal services. If you get a parking fine, you can pay it in Bitcoin.
Yes.
Yes, you can also pay taxes on Bitcoin.
Which is probably not why Bitcoin enthusiasts move to this town, but still.
We'll be right back. You're listening to Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino. We're back with the BBC's John Lawrenson in Lugano, Switzerland.
I wander along the lakefront and into a park where there's a square block of metal, a plinth, upon which stood a statue of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious person who brought Bitcoin into being in 2009. Playing on the mystery, the statue, made of slats of metal, is transparent when you look at it from the front. And it is now completely invisible because this summer some equally anonymous individual or individuals unscrewed it, broke it into bits and threw it in the lake. Not everyone here, it seems, is keen on crypto.
How is Lugano attracting cryptocurrency companies?
In front of the empty plinth I get talking to a few passers-by like Lucia.
It's interesting because not that many things get vandalized around here.
This is a quiet place.
Yeah, it's quiet. People are usually fairly well behaved. And you don't see often people having very strong political opinions either. Like I'm from the University of Lugano and there's a lot of workshops. There's a club to promote Bitcoin and everything. I personally don't use any cryptocurrencies, so I don't feel like it impacts me at all. But I do find it surprising that institutions such as my university would promote it so much. I think it's associated to crime, to the dark web and speculation like cryptocurrencies in general. A lot of people lose their money because they invest in it and then it crashes.
I asked the mayor, Michele Folletti, if he is concerned that Lugano will become a mafia magnet.
No, because mafia people are more interested to use fiat for money laundering. And the risk for Switzerland is this, with the Swiss franc, not with the Bitcoin. Because When they sell drugs or something like this, they receive fiat money, not Bitcoin, because the most anonymous is the cash.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:21
2
What makes Lugano a potential Bitcoin capital in Europe?
0:21–0:44
3
How can you pay with Bitcoin in Lugano?
0:44–1:23
4
What challenges exist for using Bitcoin in daily life?
1:23–2:03
5
How did one resident experience living on Bitcoin for 11 days?
2:03–2:26
6
What are the local opinions on Bitcoin and its impact?
2:26–3:45
7
How is Lugano attracting cryptocurrency companies?
3:45–5:59