Crypto-Friendly Swiss City of Lugano Adopts Polygon for Swift Payments
Polygon will help Lugano achieve its goals by providing rails to facilitate some of the transactions.
Lugano, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Switzerland, has embraced the Polygon network, a Layer 2 scaling solution built on the Ethereum ecosystem to accelerate its crypto evolution.
In an announcement on November 22, Polygon said the crypto-friendly Swiss city has upgraded its payment platform MyLugano by integrating its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network to make payments more accessible to people in the European region.
Innovative Local Payment Tool
Lugano, the economic hub of Italian-speaking southern Switzerland, became one of the global leaders in accelerating crypto adoption through its payment app. The local payment platform, MyLugano app, was developed in collaboration with stablecoin issuer Tether to enable crypto payments.
The platform, which currently services more than 30,000 users in the city, has now upgraded its capabilities with the addition of Polygon, cementing its already existing partnership with the network.
Polygon said adding its PoS chain into the app has transformed the platform into an innovative local payment tool, allowing users to explore other decentralized applications (dApps) housed on the network. According to the announcement, the updated version of MyLugano already features “an asset section which lets users activate and manage a multichain digital wallet for personal custody.”
The platform won the prestigious IEEE Smart City Award, becoming the most celebrated city with highly innovative, high-impact, value-added technology projects. The local payment app has also partnered with The DFINITY Foundation in September to add support for Chain-Key Bitcoin (ckBTC), a multichain Bitcoin “twin” running on the Internet Computer (ICP) blockchain.
With these additions, the MyLugano payment platform is expanding its offerings, giving users more opportunities to purchase goods and transact with different virtual assets.
Lugano to Roll Out First NFT Creations
In addition to upgrading its payment platform, the Swiss city of Lugano is setting its sights on the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to further strengthen its presence in the crypto space.
Polygon said in the announcement that the city is gearing up to launch its inaugural NFT collection, dedicated to the artistic creations of Yuri Catania. The digital masterpiece dubbed LVGA/XY Flowers was created with the paste-up technique and is designed to disappear gradually.
The NFT creation results from a collaboration between Lugano and Lugano Living Lab. Stretching an impressive 40 meters in length and standing 8 meters tall on the wall of the Palazzo dei Congressi, the digital artwork engaged the talents of several hundred individuals during its creation.
With the move, Lugano aims to transform the picturesque lakeside town in southern Switzerland into Europe’s blockchain capital.
The city plans to allow its citizens and companies to use Bitcoin (BTC), Tether’s stablecoin USDT, and LVGA, the city’s own stablecoin, to pay their annual taxes, parking tickets, public services, and student tuition fees, paving the way for cryptocurrencies becoming a legal tender in the city.
As one of its partners, Polygon will help Lugano achieve its goals by providing rails to facilitate some of the transactions.
While the city of Lugano is still making plans to start allowing people in the region to pay for taxes using digital assets, two cities in the country, Canton of Zug and Zermatt, another popular tourist destination in Switzerland known for its skiing, are already allowing their residents to pay taxes in selected cryptocurrencies.
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