The Thunderstorm event in Lugano, organized by Fulgur Ventures, is positioning the city as a hub for Bitcoin-related financial innovation. Featuring Paolo Ardoino of Tether and Adam Back of Blockstream, the event focuses on bridging traditional finance and Bitcoin through the tokenization of real-world assets.

Held to promote the financialization of Bitcoin, the event emphasized transforming Bitcoin into a platform where assets like company shares, bonds, and real estate can be tokenized, traded, and settled efficiently. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, opened the event with an introduction on Bitcoin’s growing importance, setting the stage for discussions on its future.

This gathering wasn’t limited to crypto experts alone. Representatives from major financial institutions, including Crédit Agricole and Accenture, along with family offices, attended the event. During the panel titled “Bitcoin as the Best Digital Asset,” Ardoino expressed concerns about the global economic outlook, highlighting Bitcoin’s potential resilience. He said, “Everything we built until today only works in the best case scenario. If there’s a catastrophe, those tools won’t work. And if you look at all the macroeconomic indicators, things will go south. This is one of the reasons Bitcoin is great. Everything will fail apart from Bitcoin.”

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, later discussed the capabilities of the Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain designed to enhance transaction scalability and privacy. Speaking during the panel “Innovating Finance: Bitcoin’s Role in New Financial Instruments,” Back explained, “Liquid Network is specialized in issuing and transferring securities. You can see pretty exciting examples of that. It’s an interesting time for Bitcoin-related technologies, for Bitcoin derivatives products. Our goal is to expand our technologies offer.”

Regarding Fulgur Ventures’ $210 million investment, Back emphasized the focus on enhancing Bitcoin technologies like Lightning and Liquid. He also predicted, “The price target of Bitcoin for the end of 2025 is $500,000.”

Source: Back: “The price target of Bitcoin for the end of 2025 is $500,000.”