Co-founder of SMART VALOR, Olga Feldmeier appeared on the major entrepreneur reality show “Lions Den”, die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz , on Tuesday 11th November to pitch the SMART VALOR platform to a jury of 5 investors. Excited about the future of digital assets and the promising future of the platform’s own cryptocurrency, celebrity investor Bettina Hein went all in and took over the whole investment sum offered to 5 investors collectively.
Bettina noted:
“ The SMART VALOR team convinced me because they managed to set up and successfully scale a complex exchange infrastructure for digital assets within a very short time. ”
This is the first time a cryptocurrency is offered to investors on the mainstream television show like “Lions Den”. VALOR is the exchange’s native cryptocurrency issued by SMART VALOR AG Switzerland. It has several function on the SMART VALOR exchange such as payment and staking. For example, users can pay exchange fees in VALOR. In this case they pay 30% less fees. Also, users can stake, or freeze, their VALOR on the platform for a certain period of time and earn up to 15% annual interest rate. The range of such functions keeps expanding.
Beyond the utility consideration, hundreds of investors hold VALOR today as their investment in the fast growing digital asset exchange business. Because VALOR is listed on 5 exchanges around the world, it is traded 24/7. The price fluctuates with perception of investors about the development of SMART VALOR company. Thus, VALOR acts as a proxy for success of the company. This is a common practice today among digital asset exchanges around the world.
Olga Feldmeier explains:
“Traditionally the deals for good start-ups are made with equity, mostly behind the closed doors, where only insiders can invest. The novelty of cryptocurrencies like VALOR, is that they are traded on exchanges and anybody can buy or sell them anytime 24/7. It is easy. And it is a much more accessible and liquid form of participation in the early-stage blockchain and fintech technology companies such as SMART VALOR.” - explains Olga Feldmeier, co-founder of SMART VALOR.
However, the victory in “Lions Den” wasn’t easy. Most investors unfamiliar with cryptocurrency space need first to understand the technology and fundamental change it is having on financial services and other industries. Many famous Silicon Valley investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Tim Draper compare it with the invention of the internet. Also, Swiss investors are aware. Swiss prominent investor Daniel Gutenberg was one of the early investors who supported SMART VALOR since its inception in 2017. Additionally, SMART VALOR became the first blockchain company in the portfolio of the Swiss Corporate Venture Fund Venture Incubator, which is funded by leading Swiss companies such as Nestle, Credit Suisse, Novartis and ABB.
The Big Vision
“The big vision of the company and exceptional track record of the founding team were the core reasons why we decided to invest in SMART VALOR. They became the first to take on the real asset tokenization opportunity" - said Daniel Gutenberg
Another early investor and supporter of SMART VALOR David Johnston of Yeomans Growth Capital, highlighted the fact that this year VALOR delivered a remarkable price performance growing 80% during the first three quarters of 2020.
“VALOR’s price performance this year ranks it among the top 5 exchange currencies in 2020, well ahead of its large Asian competitors.”
For SMART VALOR the exciting development this year was not only the fact that transaction volume on the exchange have grown a remarkable 830%, but also the product extension beyond cryptocurrencies. The first step was a great launch of the first physical asset on the SMART VALOR platform this year. That was tokenized physical gold. The digitalization and trading of further physical and intangible assets in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) comes as the next logical step alongside this strategy.
With the cryptocurrency space in general being a high-risk investment for any investors, SMART VALOR differentiating factor is full compliance with local and international regulations. It is a registered Financial Intermediary and a member of the SRO in Switzerland. The exchange operations run through its Liechtenstein subsidiary, registered as currency exchange business. In Switzerland SMART VALOR is preparing for registration for the new blockchain exchange license coming into effect next year. This will enable extension of available assets to digital securities, i.e. shares recorded on the blockchain, the dawn of the new era of financial market infrastructure.
Disclaimer:
Cryptocurrencies can fluctuate widely in prices and are therefore not appropriate for all investors. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision. Investments on SMART VALOR are not available to US persons. This is not an investment advice.