The foremost digital Switzerland-based bank Swissquote Group Holding SA will allegedly develop the first bank in the world to offer its customers with the occasion to take part in initial coin offerings (ICOs). At present, if the customer wanted to subsidize in an ICO, they would need to have a straightforward knowledge of the know-how and, at the very minimum, own a blockchain wallet. However, a well-known online bank Swissquote announced that it will allow its customers to purchase ICO tokens straight against Swiss francs through their very own bank account. The bank would then handle the execution of the deal and of the custody of the purchased tokens.
LakeDiamond ICO
The first ICO to be offered as an investment option on the banking platform is LakeDiamond, a lab-grown diamond company which is raising funds to purchase new equipment. They will offer more ICOs in the future.
The pre-sale of this ICO is ongoing and offers a 10 percent bonus up to 4 million CHF (just under $4 million).The regular public sale will not open until January. Presumably, buyers will not have the opportunity to realize any gains or exchange their tokens for other cryptocurrencies before the spring.
The token itself is pegged to the cost of diamond production. Each token is meant to be equivalent in value to “1 (one) minute of growth reactor operating time, which produces lab-grown diamonds. One minute is the smallest possible unit, so the tokens are non-divisible past this point. If a diamond plate takes 180.5 minutes to grow, it will consume 181 LKD.”
While this is not an ICO Review, LKD tokens are priced around 50 cents each. There will be a maximum supply of close to 6.8 million. The funds raised will be used to improve and expand the firm’s operations. Within the system, the tokens will have utility.
Lab-grown diamonds are a growing industry which markets themselves as more ethical. The movie Blood Diamond speaks to the reason that the ethics of traditional diamonds can be seen as questionable. Like all industries which require entry into disadvantaged countries and massive labor forces, the diamond industry has its share of detractors. Nevertheless, not everyone feels they are more ethical. There is the fact that they require less labor and if they became the norm, many thousands of people would find themselves without a livelihood
Speaking on the matter, Marc Burki, CEO at Swissquote, noted:
True to our philosophy to democratize finance by offering services that are simple and accessible to everyone, we are now offering our clients the opportunity to help grow start-ups. Combining crowdfunding with the blockchain creates a new form of fundraising. Thanks to contributions starting at 33 Swiss francs, clients can participate without being required to invest large sums into venture capital or private equity funds.
Progress in the Making :
Switzerland is rapidly determining up as a global blockchain center as the nation seems pretty open of the ground-breaking technology. In the month of September 2018, FINMA issued a cryptocurrency fund with a regular asset management authorization, putting it in the same basket as other non-crypto asset managers.
Besides this back in February 2017, the country’s monetary watchdog also introduced ICO regulations which gave shelter to much administrative clarity on the matter. All the same, before banks even took notice of bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, cryptonaughts have also capitalized in ICOs. While it is definitely optimistic to see a bank be so progressive, eventually banks are not essential for investment into ICOs and are additionally decreasingly necessary for everything at all as the blockchain rebellion moves on.
