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The city of Lugano in southern Switzerland and El Salvador have signed an economic cooperation agreement based on crypto and blockchain.

According to an October 28 announcement from Lugano, the two pro-crypto jurisdictions signed a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation at the city’s Plan B event. Lugano Mayor Michele Foletti cited El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender as part of the city’s interest in the deal, which will allow the pro-crypto country to establish a presence government physics in an effort to “encourage cooperation with education and research.” institutions”.

“The use of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology creates new opportunities for growth and investment that benefit our communities; it is a new alternative financial and exchange tool that encourages trade and the provision of services in a globalized world”, said Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli, Ambassador of El Salvador to the United Nations Office in Geneva. “With this agreement, El Salvador is now much closer to Europe.”

Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Plan B event, Blockstream’s former chief strategy officer Samson Mow said the deal was the “next step” in nation states and cities adopting BTC:

“[El Salvador and Lugano are] we will start working together and collaborate on joint initiatives. I think that’s the way we push each other, basically, we create alliances between places that have adopted Bitcoin.”

The first in the world #Bitcoin diplomat representing the first of the world #Bitcoin nation first #bitcoin embassy of in Lugano

@JosueLopezGal pic.twitter.com/jGsVZa09F9

— Stacy Herbert (@stacyherbert) October 28, 2022

Stablecoin issuer Tether, which announced in March that it would create a fund of up to 100 million Swiss francs to help finance blockchain-based startups in Lugano, supported the deal in a blog post on 28 October Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino said Tether “would be ready to help in any way we can.”

Related: McDonald’s starts accepting Bitcoin and Tether in Swiss city

As part of the Plan B initiative, Lugano plans to allow residents to use BTC, Tether (USDT) and LVGA tokens as “de facto” legal tender in many shops and businesses in the area, as well as to pay taxes , parking tickets, public services and registration. In El Salvador, BTC has been accepted as legal tender since the adoption of the country’s Bitcoin Law in September 2021.