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Lugano, a town in the south of Switzerland, presented Bitcoin and Tether in addition to its own LVGA Points token as legal tender. The initiative was supported by collaboration among the operations of Tether Limited, the technology company behind the largest market capitalization stablecoin, usdt.
Tether and the City of Lugano plan to work toward the shared goal of scaling the city’s blockchain capabilities and transforming Lugano into a major hub for European DLT adoption.
Plan ?
Lugano's ambitious plan? will enable its 62,000 citizens to pay utility charges or taxes in Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA. He has already joined forces with more than 200 merchants to boost the adoption of bitcoin and lightning payments. The road map also details the creation of a new house for blockchain startups and hosting of bitcoin meetups and workshops. While referring to the recent update, CTO of Tether Paolo Ardoino said,
“El Salvador’s GDP increased by 10% and its tourism by 30% after declaring Bitcoin a legal tender. Imagine what we can do in a city in downtown Europe."
Plan? will also make it easier to launch two mutual funds. The first will spend approximately $3.26 million on OBT, USDT and LVGA adoption. The second vehicle will be dedicated to the establishment of a pool of funds of around 108.6 million dollars for Bitcoin and new initiatives and blockchain startups.
By rolling the red carpet for Bitcoin businesses and enthusiasts to a business-friendly environment – the end goal of the collaboration is to show the real-world utility of blockchain within the community. However, the Swiss franc will continue to be the only legal currency in the city, unlike el salvador, which had Bitcoin as its second official currency last year.
“Lugano Investing in your future»
Michele Foletti, Mayor of Lugano, says the city is investing in its future with the latest initiative. Foletti also highlighted the blockchain integrations in the city’s payment infrastructure and noted,
“In recent years, the city has already implemented blockchain-based solutions including the MyLugano app and its LVGA Points payment token, the Lugano digital franc, and the 3Achain blockchain infrastructure. We firmly believe in this technology, the potential to scale it, and our integrated collaboration with Tether will build a better, more open, transparent and intelligent city."
Switzerland is known to be a more user-friendly location for cryptocurrency space. The country’s largest online bank, Swissquote, reportedly plans to roll out a digital asset exchange this year to meet clients’ growing demand for digital assets.
