LUGANO, SWITZERLAND – Appearing on the opening panel of Plan B Forum here alongside Lugano Mayor Michele Foletti, Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer of stablecoin issuer Tether, says bitcoin (BTC) adoption in the city is “working well.”

Seven months after the two teamed up to bring widespread use of bitcoin to the city, Ardoino says 40 merchants are already using the crypto with their point-of-sale systems. While that may not seem like much, Ardoino said the aim is to bring adoption along in a “scientific way.”

It’s one thing – as many politicians have done – for an official to say he or she is pro-bitcoin, noted Ardoino, but it's another thing to put a plan together.

To that end, Ardoino said that rather than trying to achieve widespread use quickly, it was more important that things worked smoothly for the initial adopters. He now expects 1,000 Lugano merchants will be able to accept bitcoin as a form of payment in the first quarter of 2023.

Ardoino and Foletti said that in addition to adoption, there are two other prongs to Lugano’s Plan B – education and this week’s forum. On the education front, the Plan B Summer School at Lugano’s Franklin University was well attended in July. And the Plan B Forum also appears to be well attended, with Foletti and Ardoino saying they expect it to become an annual event.

Read more: Stablecoin Issuer Tether Increases US Treasury Portfolio, Cuts Commercial Paper Holdings to Below $50M