In July of 2016, the Swiss canton of Zug announced that they would conduct an experiment with Bitcoin payments. Residents were allowed to pay for public services using the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. At that time, it remained unclear how long this project would run for, but we now have an answer to that question. The City Council of Zug announced that the Bitcoin payment option will be made permanent moving forward.
Zug Embraces Bitcoin After Successful Trial
Accepting Bitcoin payments for public services sounded like a very unusual experiment when Zug’s City Council announced it in May of 2016. But due to growing consumer demand, and the option of trying something new at virtually no cost, the City Council decided to greenlight the Bitcoin payment trial. At that time, its chance of success was all but certain, and no one knew for how long the project would last.
As it turns out, the Bitcoin experiment has been somewhat of a success. During the Zug City Council meeting on December 13th, it was decided to continue accepting Bitcoin payments on a permanent basis. This news came as quite a surprise, as very little details have been revealed regarding the Bitcoin acceptance project ever since it was kicked off in July.
So far, it appears that only a dozen people have shown an interest in paying Bitcoin, but that still makes the pilot project worth exploring further. It is nice to see the Zug government keep such an open mind toward digital payments. Moreover, they will also explore Twitter and Apple Pay as electronic funds options in the next few weeks.
Exploring with Bitcoin technology is an important development for any economy, and the Zug City Council acknowledged that much. The project garnered a lot of international media attention over the past few months, which indicates that the idea was the right one. Although Bitcoin usage may have been a bit disappointing, things may pick up over the coming months now that it is a permanent payment option.
But the Zug City Council has made another announcement that caught people by surprise. Moving forward, the plan is to explore future use cases for blockchain technology, including electronic government and digitization of services. All of those projects can benefit from blockchain technology, which adds transparency and accountability.
The news comes at a time during which the value of Bitcoin has been skyrocketing for several weeks. It is evident that a mind shift towards cryptocurrency is taking place, although it remains unclear what the future may hold. Bitcoin investors and enthusiasts are happy about the Zug news, that much is certain.
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