Zug is where Switzerland's crypto companies sit; Lugano is where you can buy an espresso with bitcoin. In 2022 the city on Lake Lugano launched Plan ₿ with Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, and built the densest network of crypto-accepting businesses in the country. This page explains how it works day to day, where to buy crypto in Ticino, how to pay city bills in bitcoin – and what a critical review by Swiss-Italian public broadcaster RSI found.
Plan ₿ in a nutshell
Plan ₿ is a City of Lugano programme launched on 3 March 2022 together with Tether. It is run through the Plan ₿ Foundation, chaired by mayor Michele Foletti. It brings together merchants accepting bitcoin, the A cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to an official currency, usually the US dollar. Tether (USDT) is the largest. USDT and the city's LVGA, city invoices payable in crypto, a 2,100 m² start-up hub, a venture fund, a relocation programme, a summer school and the annual Plan ₿ Forum. FC Lugano is part of it too: tickets, food and merchandise can be paid in BTC and USDT.
In March 2026 the city and Tether agreed a second phase for 2026 to 2030. According to paid content published by Plan ₿, Tether will contribute up to CHF 5 million; the memorandum is non-binding and covers digital infrastructure, decentralised identity and local AI.
- 2018
Chiasso becomes the first Ticino municipality to accept bitcoin for taxes.
- Mar 2022
Lugano and Tether launch Plan ₿.
- Jul 2022
First Plan ₿ Summer School with Franklin University Switzerland.
- Dec 2023
All city invoices become payable in BTC or USDT via the Swiss QR bill.
- Oct 2024
Satoshi Nakamoto statue unveiled in Parco Ciani; crypto bank Sygnum opens a Lugano office.
- Aug 2025
The statue is stolen and thrown into the lake, later recovered.
- Mar 2026
Second phase agreed with Tether; RSI publishes a critical review.
- Jul 2026
BancaStato launches crypto trading in e-banking.
Paying with bitcoin, USDT and LVGA
Plan ₿ says "over 360 merchants" in Lugano accept crypto; other figures from paid Plan ₿ content and a PostFinance blog post range from around 300 to more than 400. BTC Map offers an independent check: according to BTC Map (btcmap.org) there are 255 listings within six kilometres of the centre, most of them verified by volunteers – by far the densest cluster in Switzerland. For comparison, Zurich has 48 and Zug 12.
The list goes well beyond crypto insiders. On BTC Map you will find the LAC arts centre on Piazza Bernardino Luini, the McDonald's on Riva Albertolli, Hotel Federale and Hotel Gabbani, Farmacia Nassa, the Tourist Info Point of the Lugano Region tourist board, the Spar Express on Via Pioda and reCorner at Manor – plus hairdressers, galleries, jewellers and plenty of restaurants.
You pay via A payment layer on top of the Bitcoin blockchain that moves small amounts in seconds for a fraction of a cent., in USDT or in LVGA. LVGA is what the city calls its own currency in the MyLugano app: depending on your profile you get 5 to 10% cashback in LVGA, which you can spend at more than 470 businesses in the MyLugano network. According to RSI, 100 LVGA equal one franc. The app page does not say whether LVGA can be converted back into francs.
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Install a Lightning wallet
Plan ₿ suggests Bitkit, Breez and Wallet of Satoshi among others. Write the recovery words down offline.
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Get some bitcoin
Buy bitcoin on an exchange or app and send a small amount to your Lightning wallet.
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Find merchants
The map on planb.lugano.ch or BTC Map shows who accepts bitcoin, USDT or LVGA.
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Scan the QR code
At the till the terminal shows a QR code: scan, check the amount, confirm.
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Optional: use MyLugano
With the city's app you collect cashback in LVGA to spend in the network.
For merchants the bar is low: Plan ₿ supplies a terminal with a SIM card, charges a 1% transaction fee and pays out four times a month in local currency, or leaves the amount in crypto. According to Plan ₿, contracts can be cancelled at any time.
Paying city invoices in bitcoin
Since December 2023 every invoice issued by the City of Lugano – municipal taxes as well as other city services – can be settled in bitcoin or Tether. You scan the QR code on the standard Swiss QR bill with a compatible wallet and choose the cryptocurrency; Bitcoin Suisse processes the payment and the city receives francs. Before that, crypto payments only worked through the city's online portal. The announcement mentions no limits or fees.
In Zug it is the canton that accepts taxes in BTC and ETH up to CHF 1.5 million per bill; in Lugano the offer covers invoices issued by the city. Our guide to paying taxes in bitcoin compares the options.
The honest balance after four years
In March 2026 RSI ran the numbers. Around 20,000 wallets had been activated – about a third of the city's population. Total payment volume, according to mayor Foletti, was only about CHF 600,000, and the most-used currency was not bitcoin but LVGA. Around 100 blockchain firms were founded in or moved to Lugano over four years; how many jobs that created is unknown for lack of data.
Economists at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) are divided. Peter Gruber calls the wallets and start-ups a nice success but points to regional GDP of around CHF 6 billion a year: a first step, not a turning point. Giovanni Barone Adesi sees Plan ₿ mainly as a signal that Lugano is present in the field. The report also questions Tether itself, whose reserves have never been fully audited.
Buying bitcoin in Lugano and Ticino
BancaStato: the cantonal bank in e-banking
Since July 2026, BancaStato customers can buy, sell and hold bitcoin, ether, litecoin and solana directly in e-banking and the mobile app. Trading and custody run through crypto bank Sygnum, connected to the bank's Avaloq software. The service is for Swiss residents only, so cross-border commuters living in Italy are excluded. Fees, minimums and whether you can withdraw coins to your own wallet were not announced at launch. Sygnum itself has had a Lugano office since October 2024. Other banks with crypto are listed in our overview of Swiss crypto banks.
Online by bank transfer
To pay merchants you need bitcoin in your own Lightning wallet, in other words Holding coins in your own wallet and controlling the private keys yourself, instead of leaving them with a bank or exchange.; a bank that keeps the coins for you does not help much here. Exchanges and apps you fund with a franc transfer are more practical. Once you have completed Know Your Customer: identity checks that financial intermediaries must run under anti-money-laundering law. you are set; from CHF 1,000 within 30 days a Swiss provider has to identify you in any case.
- CEX.IO has operated since 2013; group entities are registered in the US (FinCEN) and the UK (FCA). Swiss residents, however, contract with CEX OVRS LLC in Nevis, which names no regulator. There is no CHF: you fund via SEPA in euros, SWIFT or card (CEX.IO review).
- Kraken accepts Swiss francs via SIC through Bank Frick, free of charge.
- Relai sells bitcoin only, charges 1% from CHF 50 and sends straight to your own wallet (Relai review).
- PostFinance offers 22 coins in e-finance, but not USDT (PostFinance crypto).
If you want USDT for Lugano, see buying USDT in Switzerland. The transfer process is explained in buying crypto by bank transfer. None of the exchanges, banks or apps we checked accepts TWINT for crypto purchases; the workarounds via P2P marketplaces and vouchers are covered on our TWINT and crypto page.
ATMs, exchange offices and cash
Coin ATM Radar listed 18 crypto ATMs in Lugano (figure via HelloSafe, undated). According to BTC Map (btcmap.org), only one Värdex machine without an address is listed in the city, though the database is known to undercount ATMs. Check the location finder on vaerdex.ch before you go: counts change constantly (bitcoin ATMs in Switzerland).
BTC Map also lists several exchange offices that accept bitcoin, such as Taleda on Via Pessina, Cambio Prada on Via Trevano and QuickExchange in Manno. We have not verified whether they sell bitcoin for cash, so ask before turning up with money. Reliable cash alternatives are the SBB ticket machine at Lugano station (bitcoin and ether as paper wallets, CHF 20 to 500, how it works) and the post office counter with a Mt Pelerin QR bill.
Get bitcoin for your first payment in Lugano: open an account, transfer francs, send to your Lightning wallet.
Operating since 2013Group registered with FinCEN (US) and the FCA (UK)
Scene, learning and events
The big date is the Plan ₿ Forum, held every October at the Palazzo dei Congressi; Plan ₿ reports more than 2,500 attendees a year. During the rest of the year, developers, founders and the curious meet at meetups and workshops at PoW.space, a bitcoin co-working space at Contrada di Sassello 10 in the centre.
To go deeper, you can apply for the Plan ₿ Summer School. It has run from late June to early July at Franklin University Switzerland, with lectures, workshops and a hackathon. In 2023 the city also ran a "Blockchain for Business" course with USI, SUPSI and Franklin.
Crypto in a Ticino tax return
Ticino's tax administration set out its practice in 2018: cryptocurrencies are treated like foreign currencies and form part of private wealth. You declare them in the securities list (modulo 2) at the federal tax administration's 31 December rate, and they are subject to Annual cantonal tax on your net assets as of 31 December – crypto holdings count towards it.; private capital gains are not taxed. Very frequent trading can lead to being classed as a professional securities trader. We found no newer version. Details in our guide to crypto tax in Switzerland.
Chiasso, Mendrisio, Bellinzona and Locarno
In 2018 Chiasso became the second Swiss municipality after Zug to accept taxes in bitcoin, capped at CHF 1,000 per instalment. According to the municipality, by March 2022 there had been exactly one such payment; we could not confirm whether the option still exists. The days when Chiasso styled itself a "CriptoValle" of ICO firms are over: BTC Map counts only two listings nearby, in Morbio Inferiore and Balerna.
In Mendrisio, BTC Map shows the exchange office QuickExchange and a bike shop. Bellinzona, home of BancaStato, has six listings, including a Värdex ATM without an address. Locarno has two. Outside Lugano, Ticino is no better equipped than the rest of Switzerland – Plan ₿ is a city project.
Pay taxes in bitcoin
Paying Swiss taxes in crypto: how it works in the Canton of Zug and the City of Lugano, what it costs, where it is not possible and the tax consequences.
Buy USDT
Buying Tether (USDT) with Swiss francs: which providers still offer it to Swiss residents, why Revolut dropped it, Tron vs Ethereum, and how it is taxed.
Zug (Crypto Valley)
Zug, Switzerland's Crypto Valley, beyond the hype: a cantonal bank with crypto, taxes payable in bitcoin up to CHF 1.5m, Lightning at Spar and the real numbers.
Crypto banks
PostFinance, ZKB, LUKB, Swissquote, Sygnum, AMINA: coins, fees and whether you can withdraw to your own wallet. Plus UBS, Raiffeisen and crypto-friendly banks.
