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What is Lugano’s Plan B Initiative

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Lugano's Plan B

Lugano, one of the largest cities in Switzerland has presented its Lugano’s Plan B initiative. The city is getting ready to become one of the largest cryptocurrency hubs in Switzerland and Europe through different crypto and blockchain projects. 

But what is Lugano’s Plan B all about? In this post we will be sharing with you all you should know about this initiative and why it is expected to become one of the leading projects in the cryptocurrency industry. Switzerland is definitely becoming a large cryptocurrency hub and Lugano wants to play a key role. 

What is Lugano?

In order to understand what Lugano’s Plan B initiative is, we should start describing what Lugano is and why this city is becoming a key hub for cryptocurrency adoption in Switzerland. Lugano is the ninth-largest city in Switzerland and it’s the largest Italian speaking city in the country. Moreover, Lugano is the capital of the canton of Ticino and it has a population of over 63,200 according to Wikipedia. 

The city is not only known for being a beautiful town full of nature and mountains, but it is also the third-largest financial district in Switzerland. Thanks to banks and other insurance companies, Lugano continues to grow on a daily basis. Additionally, Lugano is also a very important city in terms of education and culture. 

Lugano's Plan B

The University of Lugano is one of the most important in southern Switzerland and it attracts students not only from the whole country but also from northern Italy and the provinces of Varese and Como. Thanks to the cultural and educational offer in the Canton Ticino, Lugano is attracting people from many places and pushing them to stay in the city. 

There are many opportunities and large companies settled in the region that work as hubs for different markets around the world. Therefore, Lugano is definitely a very important city not only for Switzerland but also for Europe. These are just some of the reasons why Lugano is now attracting people from all over the world.  

Another thing to take into consideration about Lugano is that it is a multicultural place. 38.1% of the population do not hold Swiss citizenship. Most of the people working in the city come from Italy, Portugal and Germany, among other countries. This shows the importance of the city in terms of the offering that it has for people. 

What is Lugano’s Plan B Initiative?

Let’s not talk about Lugano’s Plan B initiative and how the city wants to transform itself into the European capital of crypto. Lugano’s Plan B aims at creating a hub for cryptocurrency companies to settle their offices and operations in the country. Moreover, they are planning to incentivize the use of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies in the city. 

For example, Lugano would allow residents to pay personal and corporate taxes using cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin, LVGA and Tether). Bitcoin, as you already know, is the largest cryptocurrency in the market. Over the last few years, it has been adopted by a large number of companies and individuals from different countries. El Salvador, for example, made Bitcoin legal tender, becoming the first country in the world to do so. 

Tether (USDT), instead, is the largest stablecoin available right now. Created by Bitfinex, Tether is now used by individuals in different jurisdictions to pay for goods and services, hedge against market volatility and also interact with different decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.

We have seen that Switzerland has adopted a very open approach to virtual currencies, especially with Zug. One of the positive things about having a country like Switzerland is that cities can compete and start offering better services to companies, individuals and people. This is what we see with Lugano’s Plan B. 

Rather than all the initiatives settling in Zug, we see that there is a possibility for them to start thinking about Lugano’s Plan B and the offer that the city has for these cryptocurrency projects. We will get into the details of which are the main pillars of this initiative and how the city is trying to thrive thanks to digital currencies. 

Lugano’s Plan B initiative was presented in the city by a panel that consisted of Michele Foletti, the city’s Mayor, Jan Ludovicus van der Velde, CEO f Tether, Pietro Poretti, economic development division for the City of Lugano and Paolo Ardoini, CTO of Tether. 

Van der Velde said that they expect blockchain technology to touch every single facet of the city. Let’s not forget that Lugano’s centre is full of luxury shops, museums and restaurants.

Furthermore, another reason to launch Lugano’s Plan B was due to the fact that Switzerland is in the heart of Europe and it connects different countries: France, Austria, Italy, Germany and Liechtenstein. Additionally, Lugano is close to Malpensa’s Airport in Varese’s province next to the Canton Ticino and it has trains that connect with the city in close to an hour. 

Moreover, Lugano’s Plan B initiative took into consideration the fact that the city has forward-looking institutions and is quite safe compared to other cities. Thanks to all these things and many others Lugano’s Plan B is expected to change the city on the international stage. It could become the next Zug when it comes to cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions and it would also be able to attract a large number of interested individuals from different countries to bring new ideas and projects. 

Tether’s Involvement

Tether has also played a very important role in Lugano’s Plan B initiative. As you can see, the name Plan B could be closely related to Bitcoin as the main option to escape traditional financial institutions. But Plan B is also the popular Bitcoin investor that promoted Bitcoin’s stock-to-flow model. 

Tether Stablecoin

Tether has also been working side by side with Lugano’s administration in order to promote the use of virtual currencies. Tether, as mentioned before, is the largest stablecoin in the market. This stablecoin has been created in order to offer investors the possibility to enjoy the benefits of blockchain technology and virtual currencies without having to think about volatility. 

Lugano’s Plan B includes the promotion and use of Tether (USDT) and not only Bitcoin (BTC) and LVGA, the local digital currency. Hence, it becomes very important for Tether’s participation in terms of the technology used to promote this initiative and to execute many other projects in the city (linked to blockchain technology and digital currencies). 

As you can see, there is also a large presence of Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO, who has been talking and promoting Lugano’s Plan B initiative on social media networks such as Twitter over the last few months. Now that Lugano’s Plan B has been unveiled, it is also possible to see that Tether will be leading the whole process and project. 

Therefore, Tether is going to be a key partner of Lugano’s Plan B initiative. There will be technical and managerial support from Tether trying to focus on the most important aspects of this project and how to be able to properly execute all the initiatives linked to Lugano’s Plan B. 

Project’s Main Pillars and Initiatives

It is now time to focus on the main pillars and initiatives related to Lugano’s Plan B. Now that we know what Lugano is, how Tether has been working side by side with Lugano’s administration and how the city is getting ready to welcome new projects, it might be time to focus on Lugnao’s Plan B’s pillars. 

Promoting Crypto Startups and Blockchain Investments

One of the goals of this project is to promote cryptocurrency startups and blockchain investments in the city.  This would be possible thanks to over 500 grants for education in Bitcoin and decentralized technologies in the city. Moreover, the goal is to attract companies that would be ready to establish their operations in the city and that would be ready to move their headquarters to Lugano. 

The goal is to promote Lugano as a clear cryptocurrency and blockchain hub not only in Switzerland but also in Europe. This would be possible by creating the necessary conditions for firms to locate themselves in this city. There are many things that can be done in order to promote crypto startups and blockchain investments. 

Lugano’s Plan B has also focused on promoting the usage of digital currencies. This would be one of the best ways for companies to feel inspired to start thinking about settling their operations in a city that is Bitcoin and crypto-friendly. 

Additionally, there could be many possibilities for companies to receive grants and funding. This is especially true for startups that want to expand their initiatives in the country or in Europe. Therefore, Lugano could become the hub for them to start operating and promoting their solutions. 

Partnering With Other Cities

We also need to take into consideration that a cryptocurrency and blockchain hub would not be created without working with other cities. Switzerland is a country full of innovation and startups linked to the crypto economy. For example, just a few kilometres away, the city of Zug became a very known place for crypto companies to settle their operations. 

There are big names operating from Zug and offering solutions to cryptocurrency investors all over the world. Lugano’s Plan B initiative would also focus on creating different activities that would link Lugano with other Swiss cities in order to promote the use of virtual currencies. 

Partnering with other cities would make it easier for Lugano to promote the use of virtual currencies and to create even larger projects that would involve different companies, towns and people. The larger the reach of Lugano’s Plan B, the better it would be for the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem. 

Usually, investors in the cryptocurrency market believe that having engaged cities could be better than large states trying to regulate Bitcoin. Now, we have seen how different Swiss cities are becoming heavily incentivized to promote the usage of virtual currencies. After Zug’s success in promoting virtual currencies, Lugano (which is larger than Zug) is trying to do so as well. 

Lugano’s administration, Tether and the cryptocurrency community as a whole would be able to promote digital currencies and make it easier for companies to start expanding their solutions. Thanks to the support that Lugano gets, the regulatory environment gets clearer and easier to understand for projects and crypto initiatives. 

Let’s also not forget that some cities close to Lugano include Varese, Como, Milan, Bern, Zurich and Vaduz, among others. 

Incentivize Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) Use

Finally, another pillar related to Lugano’s Plan B is related to the promotion and incentivization of virtual currencies in the region. The Canton of Ticino is becoming a clear economic, industrial and business centre in southern Switzerland. Thanks to Lugano’s Plan B initiative, the cryptocurrency industry can find in the city a place where to grow and expand. 

People and companies would be able to use Bitcoin, Tether or LVGA in order to pay for different services, taxes and even goods. Basically, Lugano has made these three digital currencies legal tender, meaning that restaurants, bars and shops would now be able to accept virtual currencies. 

Switzerland Lugano
Switzerland

Lugano was already a touristic city. Lugano’s Lake and the Alps make it a great place for people to spend time and to enjoy incredible views. With the expansion of the crypto economy in the city, it would now be possible for people to come to the city and make crypto tourism. They would be able to enjoy their favourite meals and pay using Bitcoin, move from one part of the city to another and pay with LVGA and also buy luxury goods with Tether in just a few taps. 

We have seen how people went to El Salvador and showed how easy it was to use Bitcoin on the Lighting Network to pay for things. A similar experience could start in Lugano, which is closer to large economic centres and it is well connected with other towns. 

That being said, it would just now be a matter of time before we see Lugano becoming a clear crypto hub in Switzerland and the heart of Europe.

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