with over 4000 participants from 64 countries, Plan ₿ Forum 2025 has exceeded all expectations, transforming Lugano into the European capital of Bitcoin for two intense days. The event saw a 38% increase compared to 2024 and a 140% increase compared to the first edition.
Added to these figures are 1600 attendees between Plan ₿ Week and Spazio 21 and well 800,000 spectators connected via Rumble to follow the live stream. This growth demonstrates how the Ticino initiative, created to promote technologies peer-to-peer and financial freedom, is now one of the most influential conferences internationally.
Bitcoin and Freedom: Ardoino and Foletti's Vision
During the inaugural panel, moderated by the journalist Joe Nakamoto, Mayor Michael Foletti and the CEO of Tether, Paolo Ardoino, they reiterated the strategic importance of the project.
"Our goal," Foletti stated, "is to make Lugano a hub for technological and financial innovation. The Forum's success confirms that we're on the right path."
Ardoino instead emphasized the value aspect: "Bitcoin isn't just about money, but about people's freedom and independence. Lugano demonstrates that these principles can be applied locally, making them concrete in everyday life."
A growing ecosystem
Secondo Peter Poretti, responsible for the Economic Development of the City, the tangible results are not lacking: in addition 100 companies in the sector have already settled in Ticino, many of which gravitate around the new PoW.space in Contrada di Sassello 8.
I'm almost 400 the commercial establishments that accept payments in BTC, USD₮, and LVGA, While the Municipal Finance Division continues to accept cryptocurrencies for public services. The fourth and fifth tokens were also issued during 2025. digital bond with SDX, consolidating Lugano's position in the decentralized financial landscape.
Switzerland and its role in the Bitcoin landscape
Numerous representatives of the Swiss ecosystem took turns on the stage of the Forum. Julian Liniger, CEO of Relai, a Yves Bennaïm, promoter of the initiative to include Bitcoin in the reserves of the Swiss National Bank, Up to Christian Decker ofETH in Zurich, the first in the world to have obtained a doctorate on the subject.
There was no shortage of contributions from the Ticino academic world, with Edward Beretta ofDOORS e Tiziano Leidi of SUPSI, and representatives of the traditional banking sector such as Serge Kaulitz of Luzerner Kantonalbank, a sign of the growing dialogue between traditional finance and digital innovation.
The rebirth of the Satoshi Nakamoto statue
Among the most symbolic moments, the re-inauguration of the statue dedicated to Satoshi Nakamoto, occurred in Ciani Park after the act of vandalism that damaged it last August.
The work of the Italian artist Valentina Picozzi It was restored using Japanese techniques Kintsugi, which combines the fractures with golden material (in this case orange, the color of Bitcoin) to highlight resilience in fragility.
"Recovering this statue is a sign of strength," Foletti said. "We believe in the symbolic value of Bitcoin and its significance for our community." Picozzi added: "Every time Bitcoin is attacked, the community responds united and stronger."
Artificial intelligence and data freedom: QVAC Genesis I is born
Among the novelties presented during the Forum, the debut of QVAC Genesis I, the largest open source synthetic dataset ever created for training models artificial intelligence.
With 41 billion text tokens, this project aims to build advanced and decentralized language models, with particular attention to the disciplines STEM.
"Intelligence must not be centralized," Ardoino explained. "We want every user to be able to develop AI models on their own device, freely and securely." At the same time, the AI platform was launched. QVAC Workbench, the first consumer app of Tether Data, available for Android and soon also for iOS and desktop.
An expanding future for the Plan ₿ project
Looking to the future, the Plan ₿ project continues on its growth path. PoW.space has become the hub of meetings and collaborations between companies and universities, while the Plan Foundation ₿ is preparing to engage lawyers and tax advisors interested in integrating Bitcoin and USD₮ into their professional practices.
While many European cities remain cautious on the topic of cryptocurrencies, Lugano continues to stand out for its boldness and vision, transforming an experiment into a replicable model. As Ardoino noted in closing: "Technologies can improve society if applied with courage. And Lugano is proving this."
