BLOCKCHAIN: START-UPS ARE POPPING UP ONE AFTER ANOTHER

Over the past two years, French-speaking Switzerland – and Geneva in particular – has seen a dozen tech start-ups spring up. The proliferation of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) points to a real boom.

Vincent Trouche: His Geneva-based start-up, Token Estate, is planning an ICO next June. (Photo: Dom Smaz) 

Samuel Johnson: his company Smartlink is in the process of migrating its card payment system to the blockchain. (Credit: Dom Smaz)

There is no doubt that the future lies in the virtual world and digital currency! More secure transactions, with access to international markets previously available only to specialist entities!

A greater risk of making mistakes for the uninformed investor? Perhaps, but as this risk already exists... There’s really no need for excessive concern, especially given the transaction security offered by blockchain!

We should particularly applaud the dynamism of these Geneva-based companies, which have understood that the economy isn’t built by looking back or by resting on the achievements of their predecessors!!

The future of property is taking a historic turn, and the rental and investment markets will be transformed, moving towards ever more direct relationships between the relevant economic players: B2C & C2B

by Alain Farrugia

With his serious yet open demeanour, black hair and large glasses, he might remind you of Harry Potter, the fictional character created by British author J.K. Rowling. But it is a very different kind of magic that Vincent Trouche is creating. “Using blockchain technology, I want to enable a taxi driver in Cairo to invest in Parisian property funds via his smartphone with no minimum investment amount,” explains this French engineer, who has been based in Geneva for several years.

He therefore set up a start-up in early 2017, Token Estate. Based in the Fongit premises in Plan-les-Ouates, on the outskirts of Geneva, it already employs around ten people and is aiming for an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) as early as June.

Token Estate is one of the blockchain-based start-ups currently flourishing in the Lake Geneva region. “There are currently a dozen of them. They form the foundation. But that number will grow rapidly,” says Vincent Pignon, director and founder of WeCan.Fund in Geneva and a member of the newly created Swiss Blockchain Association.

This view is echoed by Jean-Etienne Durand, head of the Blockchain Lab at the Fintech Fusion incubator in Geneva: “Between start-ups founded on a blockchain-based application and those using this technology, there are undoubtedly several dozen.” This boom is centred in Geneva, thanks to the efforts of State Councillor Pierre Maudet and Nicholas Niggli, the new Director of Innovation, as well as the launch of Fintech Fusion. Vaud, which is still considering what strategy to adopt, appears to be lagging behind in this area.

Age doesn’t matter

Some of these start-ups are already well-known and well-established. SwissBorg, whose 12 employees occupy a tiny office within the Gotham co-working space near Lausanne station, set an example by raising 50 million francs in a matter of days via its ICO launched just before the festive season... This has now led its founder and director, Cyrus Fazel, to wake up at 4.40 am to appear live on a Singaporean financial TV channel. “And yet, no Swiss bank wants to work with us. No doubt out of caution,” he notes. He is developing a solution enabling savers to invest their assets directly on a blockchain without going through a banking institution.

Having recently moved into premises at Saxo Bank, between Place de la Fusterie and Rue du Rhône in the heart of Geneva, Smex (Smart Execution) is also regarded as an established institution despite having been in existence for just thirty short months. Specialising in blockchain-based payment methods and with a team of six, the start-up intends to launch its own ICO later this year. “But it’s not easy to set up,” admits its founder Arnaud Salomon, a former trader.

Others are far less new, such as Smartlink, which has been based in Geneva for four years and is currently migrating its card payment system to the blockchain. Its aim: “To reach people who hold funds but remain unbanked, particularly in emerging markets,” as its technical director Samuel Johnson explains. Beautifully situated on the Rive roundabout in the centre of Geneva, the company employs 11 people dedicated to business development, whilst the technological solutions are handled by a team of 51 people in Da Nang, Vietnam. The company is planning its ICO this year.

Others are coming to Switzerland specifically to access the market. This is the case, for example, with Thrive Lab, which has listed the date of its ICO on the tokenmarket.net reference site as 15 March. Founded by Italians but based in Malta, this company – which aims to move the buying and selling of online advertising space onto the blockchain – opened an office in Vernier a year ago, headed by Giuseppe Scardino, formerly of Accenture, Bacardi and MSC Cruises.

“Our intention is to relocate our entire business to Geneva. The environment there is much more stimulating!” The 25 Maltese employees are therefore expected to join their three Geneva-based colleagues at some point in the future.

The prospect of an ICO also explains Robert Zaremba’s presence in the Lake Geneva region. “French-speaking Switzerland still lags far behind Zurich in terms of business development. But it is ideal for an IPO. If the Zug region is called Crypto-Valley, Geneva should deserve the nickname Crypto-Wall Street,” claims the young Polish engineer.

Based in Versoix (GE), he represents Sweetbridge in Switzerland, which describes itself as an alliance of blockchain specialists keen to accelerate payment systems and make them accessible to everyone at a lower cost. This alliance also aims to raise funds via an ICO, but in a slightly different way: by gradually raising funds from Liechtenstein. “We’d like to operate from Switzerland, but the procedures are very complex,” he admits.

Complex? Switzerland is overwhelmingly praised for its openness towards ICOs, particularly since it clarified the regulatory framework on 29 September last year. So much so that it ranks second in the world, just behind the United States, with $550 million raised in the first nine months of 2017 alone.

And listing applications are flooding in, to the extent that the regulator, “understaffed, cannot keep up with demand”, as Vincent Pignon points out. A new innovation valley is indeed being created, right before our eyes.

By Yves Genier

Source: Bilan