Spar supermarkets in Switzerland are preparing to roll out Bitcoin payments nationwide after a successful pilot backed by the crypto payments firm DFX Swiss, in a move that could make crypto a staple of everyday life.

Earlier this month, Spar’s Zug location began accepting Bitcoin via the Lightning Network, using DFX Swiss’s OpenCryptoPay platform, an open, peer-to-peer standard designed for in-person crypto transactions. 

A second Spar store in Kreuzlingen followed a few days later. “Zug was just the prototype location — we will soon be rolling it out throughout Switzerland,” OpenCryptoPay confirmed on X, formerly Twitter. 

The rollout, now visible on BTC Map, a community-driven directory of Bitcoin-accepting businesses, makes Spar one of the first major supermarket chains in Switzerland to integrate direct Bitcoin payments.

“Just scan a static QR code, send sats, immediate and easy registration by the cashier,” Rahim Taghizadegan, director of Bitcoin Association Switzerland, said on LinkedIn after testing the payment process. “If enough people use it, it may be rolled out in the whole country.”

Despite its status as an early crypto hub, Switzerland is increasingly divided over Bitcoin’s suitability for national reserves and broader economic integration.

At the Swiss National Bank’s annual shareholder meeting last week, Swiss National Bank Chairman Martin Schlegel dismissed Bitcoin as too volatile for reserve holdings, saying, “Cryptocurrency cannot currently fulfil the requirements for our currency reserves,” as per a Reuters report. 

Meanwhile, a separate citizen-led initiative is pushing to amend the Swiss Constitution to require the central bank to hold Bitcoin alongside gold, a proposal that could advance to a national referendum if it garners 100,000 signatures.

Spar’s expansion fits into a growing global trend of governments and businesses experimenting with real-world Bitcoin integration.

In Switzerland alone, over 600 businesses now accept Bitcoin, according to BTC Map data. 

The self-proclaimed ‘crypto valley’ Zug’s acceptance of Bitcoin for tax payments since 2020 and Lugano’s rollout of Bitcoin and Tether (USDT) for municipal services in 2022 have made Switzerland one of Europe’s leading hubs of real-world crypto adoption.

Meanwhile, Panama City’s council recently passed new legislation permitting residents to pay taxes, permits, fines, and other municipal fees using Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), and major stablecoins such as USDC and Tether.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair