A Swiss start-up plans to hoover up 100 million Swiss francs with an unusual fund-raising – the latest sign of Switzerland's emergence as a crypto power. 

Fintech firms in Switzerland have long complained about the country's lack of risk culture and difficulty getting loans from traditional banks, for example.

A 2015 study bore this out: of $12 billion in risk capital allotted to budding fintechs, just $8 million were invested in Switzerland. The reticence of Swiss investors stands in contrast to the 1990s dot-com bubble, when Swiss investors poured money into often fanciful business ideas.

Banks also earned fat fees bringing firms like Miracle, Fantastic or Think Tools to the Swiss stock market. Investors, of course, lost out when the bubble came crashing down in 2000.

Property Coin

Nearly 20 years later, new technology based on blockchain and developing cryptocurrencies is emerging – a boom which has electrified investors and found fertile ground in Switzerland.

Switzerland's «Crypto Valley» has advanced to a notable center for digital token providers, not least because of relaxed legal requirements. Alongside Singapore and Hong Kong, the alpine nation is now a global hub for initial coin offerings, or ICOs, according to the Crypto Valley Association.

The method of issuing company coins in return for funding has spread into the property sector: Swiss crypto real estate start up Crypto Real Estate will launch an ICO on April 1 with a Swiss Real Coin, or SRC, as the firm's token is dubbed.

Brigitte Luginbuehl

The firm has high hopes: «We plan to take in between 80 million and 100 million francs with the ICO,» Brigitte Luginbuehl (pictured above), co-founder and Chief Executive of Crypto Real Estate, told finews.com. She says the goal is realistic: the firm has double-digit million franc indicative commitments from potential investors.

Just Add «Blockchain»

The property coin represents a tiny slice of what experts estimate is more than $5 billion that was raised last year. The burgeoning industry's financial firepower is stunning, but the glut of such funding going towards coin projects leaves the impression that anyone with a Powerpoint presentation and «blockchain» in their name will be thrown money – a trend hilariously spoofed by American regulators last month:

That is certainly true in the case of Luginbuehl and Crypto Real Estate. However, the firm's idea is more real than fanciful, and the start-up has secured an experienced team of renown as well as powerful networks. 

The firm plans to plow the ICO funds into a portfolio of Swiss commercial property, to be managed with the help of blockchain technology. The SRC token's value is backed by the property portfolio as well as other collateral incuding the firm's technology platfirm.