The founder of Monetas is under fire for his role in a Swiss cryptocurrency scandal. Now, his own digital payments firm has «come to a standstill» after a funding squeeze.
Founded five years ago by South African-born Johann Gevers, Zug-based Monetas seeks to revolutionize payments in developing countries. More recently, Gevers has been at the center of a multi-million-dollar dispute at cryptocurrency firm Tezos, where he heads the Swiss foundation.
But Monetas is Gevers' bread and butter, and the firm is in trouble, the founder and Chief Executive wrote to investors last week in a letter seen by finews.com: «We were forced to let all employees go, and retain only a small core group on a contractor basis, where they could be temporarily 'put on hold' and then start working again after we had raised the money to pay them,» Gevers wrote in the letter (see below).
finews.com could not verify the authenticity of the letter, which carries the Monetas letterhead. Gevers himself didn't respond to a request for comment by finews.com. The news was first reported by online outlet «Swissinfo».
In the letter, Gevers said he attempted to raise new funding earlier this year – unsuccessfully. «Our development has come to a standstill, pending new funding». Several partnerships in South Africa have fallen through as a result.
Tezos Spat Simmering
The entrepreneur is one of the best-known figures in cryptovalley, which he was instrumental in setting up. Recently, Gevers has been in the headlines for his role as head of a Swiss foundation which oversaw a $232 million initial coin offering for Tezos. He and the authors of Tezos' code and intellectual property, Franco-American couple Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, are locked in a bitter dispute over control of the foundation.
Gevers initially defended himself against accusations by the Breitmans that he had enriched himself at the expense of the foundation, arguing that he had poured far more into the ICO and Tezos' development than other investors.
More recently, he has not responded to requests from finews.com or other media outlets for comment, as the Breitmans attempt to have him removed from the foundation which controls the ICO proceeds.
Denies Cross-Links
Gevers told «Swissinfo» that his payments to Tezos are unrelated to Monetas, and denied links between the two. «My contributions to the Tezos fundraiser were not funds that would have been available to Monetas. There is no conflict of interest, but a harmony of interests.»
Gevers told investors Monetas will adapt and simplify its business model in the hopes of being easier to implement for clients, but would not disclose the changes until they have been rolled out.
The firm had planned to posting revenue from the third quarter, and to report to shareholders later this year. This has since been moved back to early next year. Gevers vowed that despite «a very tough journey, especially this past year,» he will not give up.
