The City of Lugano's official app and its CHF-pegged LVGA payment token.
Executive Summary
MyLugano is the official app of the City of Lugano. Its LVGA payment token, an ERC-20 token pegged to the Swiss franc (100 LVGA = 1 CHF), rewards residents with cashback for shopping at local businesses. The beta app and first LVGA transaction date to December 2020. Gianluca Perletti develops the MyLugano app (iOS and Android) and worked on its blockchain architecture.
Crypto adoption in everyday retail has been held back by user friction: seed phrases, gas settings and confirmation times are not acceptable at a shop counter.
Merchants need simple tools, immediate confirmations and no exposure to price volatility.
Lugano wanted to support local commerce after the COVID-19 pandemic with a digital incentive that keeps cashback value in the city, usable by non-technical residents and many local businesses.
Gianluca Perletti develops the MyLugano mobile application (iOS and Android), which serves as the citizen gateway for municipal services, digital passes and local payments.
He worked on the blockchain architecture and technical design of MyLugano's payment features and the LVGA token.
He worked on the smart contracts behind LVGA, including cashback and merchant settlement logic.
He developed the wallet layer embedded in the mobile app and contributed to the merchant-side payment flow, in which LVGA payments are made via QR codes.
He summarizes the project's philosophy as 'Nobody Cares It's Blockchain': adoption works when the technology stays invisible to citizens, hiding gas, confirmations and cryptography.
He has presented the project at Voxxed Days Ticino: in 2024 ('From Points to Coins: How Lugano is making crypto mainstream', co-presented with Jan Trautmann) and in 2025 ('Nobody Cares It's Blockchain: How Lugano Made Digital Tokens Mainstream').
native iOS and Android application developed to deliver citizen services, municipal cards, event ticketing and the integrated LVGA digital wallet.
ERC-20 payment token pegged to the Swiss franc (100 LVGA = 1 CHF), issued today on SwissLedger, supporting cashback, transfers and merchant payments. LVGA cannot be traded for other currencies.
transaction costs are handled on behalf of users, so residents never need to buy or manage gas tokens.
the MyLugano wallet is used to buy, receive and spend LVGA directly in the iOS and Android app.
QR-based checkout with real-time payment confirmation for merchants.
services connecting on-chain transactions with the app's ticketing, card and cashback features.
smart contract controls against unauthorized minting, rate limiting on transaction relays and network monitoring.
MyLugano's beta app and first LVGA transaction were released in December 2020.
According to the City of Lugano (March 2025), the circuit counts about 500 partner businesses and over 40,000 users.
Non-technical residents use LVGA without needing to understand blockchain.
The project was presented at Voxxed Days Ticino in 2024 and 2025.
LVGA is the City of Lugano's payment token: an ERC-20 token pegged to the Swiss franc (100 LVGA = 1 CHF), obtained through cashback or purchased in the MyLugano app and spendable only at participating local businesses. It cannot be exchanged for other currencies.
Gianluca develops the MyLugano mobile application (iOS and Android) and worked on the blockchain architecture behind the system, including the LVGA smart contracts, gas abstraction, embedded wallet and the QR-based merchant payment flow.
It is the title of Gianluca's Voxxed Days Ticino 2025 talk and sums up the idea that mainstream adoption works only when blockchain complexity, such as gas fees, seed phrases and network delays, is invisible to everyday users.