Nearly 2,000 Attendees Flock to First Ever Forum Celebrating and Discussing Financial Freedom and Economic Inclusivity

November 2, 2022 — On October 28-29, Tether Operations Limited (Tether), the company operating the blockchain-enabled platform tether.to that powers the first and most widely used stablecoin, and the Swiss city of Lugano held the first annual Plan ₿ Forum. With an elite line-up of speakers, nearly 2,000 attendees from around the globe, and exciting news announced on-site, the forum was a massive success for the discussion of financial freedom and cryptocurrency adoption.

The event attracted close to 2000 attendees who were present to hear exciting news such as the Republic of El Salvador and the city of Lugano’s signed initiative on economic cooperation; and Tether, Holepunch, and Synonym launching Pear Credit, one of the cornerstone products in a series of peer-to-peer applications by the three companies. After two days of thought provoking panels and discussions, the Plan ₿ forum closed out with a spectacular drone show. 

“It was a joy to host so many wonderful speakers and guests from around the world to our innovative city of Lugano over the past days, and I am thrilled over what the future holds for financial freedom and cryptocurrency adoption worldwide,” said Michele Foletti, Mayor of Lugano. “This weekend, the dream of financial democratisation across the globe took a big step towards reality, and we are reinvigorated to continue the work.”

“Plan ₿ has delivered on another important part of the announcement made on 3 March with a high-level event. We continue to work to make Lugano a world center for Bitcoin adoption and blockchain technology.”

The forum hosted a line-up elite speakers, including Stella Assange, attorney and wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian; Gabriel Shipton, film producer and brother of Julian Assange; Milena Mayorga, current Salvadoran ambassador to the United States; Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, Nick Szabo, computer scientist; Jameson Lopp, CTO at CASA; Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert, Co-Founders of El Zonte Capital; Peter McCormack, host of What Bitcoin Did Podcast and Chairman of Real Bedford FC; Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex/Tether; Samson Mow, Architect of the Bitcoin bond; Arnab Naskar, Co-Founder of STOKR; Fadi Elsalameen, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, Farida Bemba Nabourema, human rights activist and founder of the “Faure Must Go” movement in Togo, and more.

“To say the first ever Plan ₿ Forum was just successful would be a huge understatement. For the first time, leaders and believers of financial freedom, innovation, and economic inclusivity descended upon the great city of Lugano to exchange ideas and hear from industry leaders and speakers on why the adoption of cryptocurrency is so important, said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether. “I would like to extend a humble thank you to the sponsors, the media partners, the staff and volunteers, the speakers, and the great city of Lugano for everything they have done over the past months and this weekend to make the Plan ₿ Forum a reality. Finally, I want to thank everyone who attended our history-making event in Lugano. I can’t wait to get started planning for next year’s Plan ₿ Forum.”

Over the two days of #LuganoPlan₿ Forum, around 20k CHF worth of transactions were processed in Lugano including over 1000 transactions over #Bitcoin Lightning Network, close to 130 USD₮ transactions and 200 LVGA transactions. As a result of ongoing efforts in the region and the Plan ₿ initiative, there are now nearly 65 merchants throughout Lugano accepting Bitcoin and Tether and 300 merchants accepting LVGA. This marks an important milestone for the city and has demonstrated the utility of Bitcoin for real life transactions. 

SPONSORS 

City of Lugano, Tether, Keet by Holepunch, Polygon, Go Crypto, Quantfury, Ammer Group, LCX, Utrust, Noor Capital, Swiss4Win, Casino Lugano, Quantoz Blockchain Technology, Zebedee, Deep Square, Debifi, Profluent, Bitfinex, HAL Coinshares, Relai, Swiss Bitcoin Pay, Fedi, Jan 3, Pocket, Casa, Fountain, Eli Mobile, Synonym, Holepunch, Luganodes, Blockstream, lipa, Luzerner Kantonalbank, Fly with moov, One Swiss Bank, Galoy, Satoshi Gallery, Le Pedaleur, Thalex, Fulgar Ventures, SIT Immobiliare, Stokr, Bitbox, Leontek, Pulsar, Braiins, EZCAP, Fountain, Swiss Blockchain Federation.

MEDIA PARTNERS 

BTC Times, Cointelegraph, The Cryptonimist, CryptoNews, Be In Crypto, Cointelegraph Italy, Cryptoland and Media TI, Forbes Italia, digitech.news, Gazzetta della Lombardia and Gazzetta di Milano.