Muri bei Bern's BIDI Biodiversity Voucher — Blockchain-Based Payments for Conservation Work (Switzerland)

For eight years, Muri bei Bern (Canton of Bern) ran a paper-voucher scheme rewarding residents who carried out conservation work such as meadow restoration, hedge maintenance and invasive-plant removal, redeemable with local merchants.
On 13 May 2026 the municipality replaced the paper vouchers with BIDI (Biodiversitäts-Gutscheine), a digital token built on the Hedera distributed-ledger network by Swiss Web3 firm The Hashgraph Group, blockchain developer Swisscoast — using its HCHF Swiss-franc-pegged stablecoin as the payment layer — and digital-transformation firm Apps with Love, delivered through the Hashgraph Association's Enterprise Accelerator Programme. Each BIDI voucher redeems 1:1 for a Swiss franc at participating local businesses and is issued for meadow restoration, hedge maintenance, invasive-plant removal, riparian repair work and wetland conservation.
The launch is documented as Switzerland's first live municipal blockchain initiative for environmental incentives, reported independently across Swiss and international technology press; its main verified track record so far is institutional continuity — eight years of the predecessor paper scheme — rather than new ecological outcomes.
Because BIDI only went live in May 2026, no independent ecological monitoring of the conservation work it funds has yet been published, and its value here is as a transparent, auditable payment mechanism rather than a proven biodiversity result.

Read the full analysis: https://crypto.news/switzerland-town-launches-hedera-powered-municipal-biodiversity-voucher-system/