It might seem odd to center a trial like this on a municipality with less than 30,000 people, but this is potentially an ideal testbed. Zug takes a laissez-faire attitude toward its economy, even in the context of Switzerland, and has much more financial clout than you'd expect -- 3 percent of the world's oil trades through the area. Combine that with a burgeoning financial tech sector and it's likely that at least some locals will fork over some Bitcoin.

The real question is whether or not any other cities will bite. While some governments have been warming up to Bitcoin, the currency is still far from a household name. Zug would have to show that there are clear advantages (or at least, few drawbacks) to taking Bitcoin at municipal offices. The technology is secure and can lower transaction costs, but that has yet to be proven on this kind of government scale.