Swiss City Government Announces Trial to Use Bitcoin to Pay for Public Services

Rage Comment : Zug, Switzerland is a well-known Swiss financial center and tax haven. Global Internet finance has rapidly risen in Zug and has become a global focus. Xapo, ShapeShift and Moneta are all startups founded around Zug. Recently, the Zug government announced the launch of a pilot project for Bitcoin payments for public services to assess the impact of Bitcoin payments on government public services; if the project is successful, the payment method will be expanded to other cities. Zug Mayor Dolfi Muller also publicly expressed support for the growth of such Internet financial companies.

Translation: Annie_Xu

Zug, Switzerland announced a pilot project for a Bitcoin payment program, allowing local residents to use digital currency to pay for government public services.

Zug is a well-known Swiss financial center and tax haven; the local government announced the launch of the pilot project at a hearing on May 3. The payment project will start running on July 1 and will last until the end of the year.

The government website announced the initiative, saying the project is designed to assess the effectiveness of using bitcoin to pay for public services, with the maximum payment currently being around 200 francs, or 0.44 bitcoins.

The Zug government explained:

“The government’s pilot project will initially be limited to services that cost less than 200 francs. At the end of 2016 we will analyze the results of the pilot and then decide whether Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies can be used for other city services.”

The idea of ​​using Bitcoin as a means of tax payment is nothing new, but the Zug project marks the beginning of the actual testing of the idea. In the past, many cities have played with the concept game, and many times the ideas have become outdated.

The initiative may not seem surprising, as there are already startups of this kind here, such as Xapo, ShapeShift and Moneta, all of which are based in or around Zug.

Dolfi Muller

Mayor Dolfi Muller said he hopes to attract more fintech companies through this project.

"We want to express our openness to new technologies and we will exchange ideas with the city council's internet finance companies."

"Our goal is to meet their requirements for maximizing economic development in their living environment."