Switzerland’s most significant Italian-speaking City, Lugano (City of Lugano), isn’t playing games. The goal of their “Plan B” is to “make Lugano the blockchain hub for the entire Europe,” according to Tether’s Paolo Ardoino, and it will probably succeed. The city wants to attract investment and talent, attract wealth and smart minds, and they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
Why do they have to brand their plan using bitcoin’s name, though? In NewsBTC’s Previous article on the projectWe were critical and raised concerns about the possible existence of an affinity scheme. Bitcoin name is heavily used in all promotional materials, but the protagonists talk about blockchain and crypto like there’s no tomorrow. Tether Ltd., its partners and others would not declare this project a cryptocurrency project and make it their day.
They were given the benefit of doubt when we closed the article.
“And here comes the Mayor of the city of Lugano and Tether to sing bitcoin’s praises. A “blockchain not bitcoin” guy and the organization behind the most controversial stablecoin. Even though it’s suspicious, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and hear what they have to say. We might be surprised at their March 3rd conference. Maybe Lugano has a Plan B after all.”
Are they prepared for the worst? Let’s find out.
Legal tender for Bitcoin in Lugano Also USDT. The LVGA
The story’s headline is that Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA, the city’s own cryptocurrency, will be legal tender in Lugano. Residents will be able to “pay all personal and corporate municipal taxes” in any of those cryptocurrencies. Besides that, the city’s authorities have already onboarded 200+ shops and businesses to accept them.
There’s more though. You’ll be able to use bitcoin, USDT, and LVGA to pay for: public services, parking tickets, dog taxes, ID and passport issuance fees, naturalization fees, construction permit fees, boat docking fees, tuition and meal fees, garbage taxes, signature authorization, access to public infrastructure, access to public events, rental spaces for events, and cemetery taxes.
How did they present the news?
It consisted of the following:
- Michele Foletti, the city’s Mayor, who spoke in Italian.
- Jan Ludovicus van der Velde CEO, Tether. The video was viewed by Jan Ludovicus van der Velde.
- Pietro Poretti is the economic development officer for Lugano.
- Paolo Ardoino is the CTO at Tether
The Mayor said that “Lugano is, historically, a land of technological innovation and freedom.” He believes that “Bitcoin, blockchain, and crypto” should be “disseminated and accessible to all.” And that he’s convinced “that this journey will bring benefits to all the citizens and that’s why this is our commitment.”
Jan Ludovicus van der Velde briefly recapitulated bitcoin’s history and talked about the value of open-source software. About cryptocurrencies, he said that while the adoption is wide scaled, in practice, “we lack the ability to exchange with the local bakeries and tailors. There is no way to finance higher education, or autos. We’re stuck waiting for the world to catch up to the future of financial freedom.”
About “Plan B” specifically, van der Velde said, “We envision blockchain touching every facet of this city.”
NEW: Switzerland’s City of Lugano “rolls the red carpet” #BitcoinBusinesses and entrepreneurs🙌 pic.twitter.com/2hujg4V4wm
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) March 3, 2022
Paolo Ardoino stated that “with this Plan B we want to show that the tooling, the instruments, that we’re creating can be actually put to work in a local, controlled, vibrant environment like the City of Lugano.” While Pietro Poretti said that the plan was to “create the ideal conditions for companies to thrive.” They both carried the conference and announced everything else in this article.
Ardoino explained the reasons why they chose Lugano. Here are some other reasons:
- It’s in the center of Europe.
- Switzerland is safe.
- It is close to major airports.
- The administration and institutions are forward-looking.
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What Does Lugano ‘s “Plan B” Consists Of, Exactly?
The only mention of something bitcoin-specific goes to Paolo Ardoino, who sang the Lightning Network’s praises and expressed his wishes for Lugano to be the “first wide adopter.” We know he meant after the legendary Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, of course.
Ardoino also announced a 100 million CHF fund “for start-ups that want to relocate here and want to put their headquarter here.” “Infrastructure partners like Polygon” made the fund possible. One of USDT’s versions runs on the Ethereum Layer 2 chain, and in this conference, we learned that LVGA, the city’s coin, also runs on Polygon rails.
Besides that fund, Lugano’s “Plan B” consists of:
- A “Start-up hub for 25+ innovative companies”
- A “space for meetups and workshops open to the public.”
- “3+ million CHF investment into practical grassroot blockchain projects”
- “500+ student grants for education in bitcoin and decentralized technologies.” According to Poretti, this whole thing isn’t possible without “synergy with academia.”
The Bitcoin World Forum is Announced
From October 26th to 28th, at Lugano’s Palazzo dei Congressi, there will be a huge conference. So far, the confirmed speakers are Blockstream’s Adam Back, bitcoin ambassadorSamson Mow and Max Keiser. There are more guests to come.
Keep your eye on NewsBTC for following stories about the Bitcoin World Forum and Lugano’s “Plan B.”
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