Through a live stream on Thursday, officials from the Swiss city of Lugano announced that it is planning to make Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA legal tenders through an initiative dubbed “Lugano’s Plan B.” LVGA is the city’s stablecoin and it is worth one-hundredth of a Swiss franc.
The live stream was shortly followed by a tweet from Tether confirming that they are working to ensure that Lugano’s residents are able to use Tether (USDT) as legal tender in the city.
BREAKING NEWS: #Bitcoin , #Tether & the City's LVGA token will become de facto LEGAL TENDER in Lugano #LuganoPlanB pic.twitter.com/gvZKKRveOI
— Tether (@Tether_to) March 3, 2022
Once everything is finalized, Lugano residents and companies will be able to pay for goods, services, and taxes using bitcoin (BTC), LVGA, and Tether (USDT).
Lugano’s Plan B
‘Lugano’s Plan B’ will see Tether and the city of Lugano work together to make Lugano a blockchain adoption hub in Europe. The partnership is aimed at demonstrating the real-world utility of blockchain and cryptocurrencies within the local community. The partnership provides a chance for the first full-scale urban real-world use case for Tether.
Besides making the three digital assets legal tenders, Lugano city is also working to help businesses integrate payment solutions for stablecoins. It plans to leverage Bitcoin Layer 2 Lightning Network to achieve scalability on this.
There are also several other initiatives that Lugano and Tether have agreed to collaborate in including building a blockchain company hub and availing funds for startups
Of importance is that Lugano plans to use green energy for Bitcoin mining.
The Mayor of Lugano, Michele Foletti, said that the city was investing in its future through the initiative. He explained that Lugano strongly believes in the potential of blockchain and the partnership would help in building “a better and more open, transparent and smart city.”
The Chief Technology Officer (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 at the center of Europe.”
