Part of the FinDating event by FinLantern, with support of the CAIA Association, I presented the relevant characteristics of Blockchain technology and models / use cases for investment platforms and instruments across Real Assets, Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Structured Products. Focus is on the Swiss ecosystem. I first give an introduction to FinTech, Blockchain, the respective Swiss actors, and then deep-dive into Alternative Investment asset class use-cases.

1. FinDating 2018
Geneva, June 21st 2018 – Four Seasons Hotel Des Bergues
BLOCKCHAIN, CRYPTOCURRENCIES & FINTECH
Making sense of Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies for a new Fintech Revolution
14.40 – 15.20
The implications of Blockchain technology in the alternative investments arena.
Relevant characteristics of Blockchain technology and models / use cases for investment platforms
and instruments across Real Assets, Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Structured Products.
Jérôme Vasamillet, CAIA
Wealth Management & Fintech @jerome_vasa

2. The implications of
Blockchain technology in the
alternative investments arena

3. Agenda
Introduction
Hedge Funds
Private Equity
Real Assets
Structures Products
Appendix

4. Introduction

5. 5
A few words about myself
I am not a blockchain expert
Jérôme Vasamillet
Business Engineer, Jérôme has a blend of FinTech start-up and wealth management experience, most recently at Deutsche
Bank and Entrepreneur in Residence at Fusion.
A passionate builder of investment solutions, new business models and communities, he works with startups to bring his own
start-up and wealth management experience and networks to founders.
He also co-leads a 1’300+ Fintech community in the Geneva area to share, learn and help create opportunities for others.

6. FinTech
An industry
composed of companies
that use new technology
and innovation
to disrupt the marketplace
of traditional financial
institutions and
intermediaries
in the delivery of financial
services.
Definition source: Infinite Financial Intermediation,
Tom C. W. Lin, Temple University - James E.
Beasley School of Law, January 5, 2016

7. 7
The universal bank model
Source: https://www.dealsunny.com/blog/fintech-digitally-disrupting-the-financial-world-infographic

8. 8

9. 9
Unbundling through FinTechs
Source: https://www.dealsunny.com/blog/fintech-digitally-disrupting-the-financial-world-infographic

10. Blockchain
A shared + trusted + public
ledger of transactions
that everyone can inspect
but which no single user
controls.
A distributed database
that maintains a
continuously growing list of
transaction data records
cryptographically secured
from tampering and
revision.
Definition source:
https://blockchainhub.net/blockchain-intro/

11. 11
What technology or business model innovation will have the
greatest impact on financial services in the next 3 to 5 years?
(Asked to top executives by CBINSIGHTS)
➢ A possible reason is the view that BC is still nascent to have a strong impact within 3-5 years
Source: https://www.cbinsights.com/reports/CB-Insights_Smart-People-Fintech.pdf (June 2018)

12. 12
Source: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*szRfkqONPG7_7MeMqElnfg.jpeg

13. Swiss Focus

14. 14
Swiss FinTech Map
Any Blockchain for Alternative Investments?
Source: Swisscom (June 2018)

15. 15
Swiss Blockchain & Crypto Map
19 in Q1 2017
Source: http://fintechnews.ch/blockchain_bitcoin/swiss-cryptoblockchain-startup-map/10263/ (March 2017)

16. 16
(BlockchainHub) (OYOBA)
Sources: http://fintechnews.ch/blockchain_bitcoin/swiss-blockchain-ecosystem/16514/ (January 2018) and https://www.oyoba.net/map/ (February 2018)
Swiss Blockchain & Crypto Map
60+ in Q1 2018

17. Alternative Investments

18. 18
Relevant Blockchain characteristics
“At its core, blockchain is just a database, one that is particularly good at dealing with transactions about assets, whether
they’re financial assets, physical assets such as cars, or something more abstract like customer data.”
(Ian Pattison while Cloud CTO & Blockchain Leader, IBM UK, 2017)
Blockchain has four key characteristics which make it different:
• Distributed and synchronized across networks
• Smart contracts
• Consensus
• Data immutability and provenance of assets
Of particular interest for Alternative Investments
• Smart contracts: providing confidence all actors are “playing by the rules”
• Data immutability: no changes brought to an agreed and recorded transaction
• Provenance of any assets: where has it been? Where is it now? What happened throughout its life?
Source: https://www.ibm.com/blogs/cloud-computing/2017/04/11/characteristics-blockchain/ (April 2017)

19. 19
Scope
• Hedge Funds
− Macro and Managed Funds
− Event-Driven Hedge Funds
− Relative Value Hedge Funds
− Equity Hedge Funds
− Funds of Hedge Funds
• Private Equity
− Equity Types of Private Equity
− Debt Types of Private Equity
− 3 primary types:
• Venture capital
• Buyout
• Mezzanine
• Real Assets
− Real Estate/Land Equity & Debt
− Infrastructure
− Farmland
− Timberland
− Mining Land/Rights
− Physical Commodities
− Intellectual Property
• Structured Products
− Structured Deposits
− Structured Capital ‘Protected’ products
− Structured Capital-at-Risk products

20. Use Cases

21. 21
The companies / projects / applications shown in this presentation…
1. Do not constitute a recommendation to buy, sell or use
their stock / tokens / ICO / TGE / products / services;
2. Are use cases to express blockchain applications,
with focus on Swiss solutions, not an exhaustive list.
Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.
365-Day Sharpe Ratio updated on 18 JAN 2018 GMT via silo.metaco.com

22. Blockchain & Hedge Funds

23. 23
Early Adopters of Bitcoin Investing & Hedge Fund
Pantera Capital
2013
• “First U.S. Bitcoin investment firm…
leading blockchain investment… one of
the largest institutional owners of
cryptocurrencies.”
2014
• Launched the Pantera Bitcoin Partners, a
joint investment fund launched by Pantera,
Fortress, Benchmark Capital and Ribbit
Capital.
June 2017
• Hedge Fund announced focusing on
investments solely in tokens that power
public blockchain protocols
Source: https://www.panteracapital.com/ as of June 2018, https://www.coindesk.com/100-million-pantera-capital-ico-hedge-fund/ (June 2017) ,
https://cryptovest.com/news/panteras-digital-asset-fund-down-almost-50-in-march-due-to-bitcoin/ (April 2018),
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-hedge-fund-pantera-capital-makes-a-strong-comeback-in-april-but-passive-indexes-did-a-lot-better-2018-5?IR=T (May 2018)
2 venture and 4 cryptocurrency funds:
• Venture Fund III
• Digital Asset Fund
• ICO Fund
• Bitcoin Fund
• Long-Term ICO Fund

24. 24
Open collaboration on data sets
Numerai – “the first Hedge Fund with network effects”
Sources: https://numer.ai (June 2018) and https://numer.ai/whitepaper.pdf (February 2017)
“Network effects power all of our greatest infrastructures”
Andy Weissman
Union Square Ventures, Numerai Investor
➢ At Numerai, the belief is that cryptocurrencies can bring network effects to finance

25. 25
Multi-strategy token hedge-fund
SwissBorg
Source: https://www.swissborg.com/en/ and https://trello.com/b/lacDIgRs/swissborg-roadmap (June 2018)
“…discussing with service providers and legal experts on the bet way to move forward.”

26. Blockchain & Private Equity

27. 27
Managing Shares of Private Companies
NASDAQ LINQ
• Digital ledger technology launched in 2015 that leverages a blockchain to facilitate the issuance,
cataloguing and recording of transfers of shares of privately-held companies
• On the NASDAQ Private Market
• Collaboration with Chain: blockchain infrastructure provider funded by leading venture firms
Khosla Ventures, RRE Ventures and Thrive Capital as well as strategic investors Visa, Citi,
Nasdaq, Capital One, Fiserv and Orange.
• Challenges:
− labour-intensive, paper-based, manual process
− involving paper stock certificates, option grants and convertible notes
− that quickly become outdated
• Opportunity: digitally managed via blockchain to increase efficiency & security
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/omribarzilay/2017/08/30/will-blockchain-change-the-way-we-invest/#76ad88fb5585 (August 2017)

28. 28
Cryptocurrency Investing
Invictus Capital
Supporting “talented entrepreneurs and visionaries… in the early stages of their project’s development”
• CRYPTO20
index fund / tracks top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization / direct access by holding a single C20 token
• Invictus Hyperion
tokenized VC closed fund / designed to function as a syndicate for investors looking to gain exposure to the earliest
stage of blockchain investing / funding ranges between $250 000 and $1M
• Kinetic Fund
“The first open, passively managed tokenized fund to be launched by Invictus Capital”
• TITAN AI tool
AI tool backed by data science and machine learning to allow for analysis and plagiarism detection on ICO white papers
Source: https://invictuscapital.com/ (June 2018)

29. 29
Private Equity for Blockchain Projects
Blockchain Valley Ventures (BVV)
• BVV is an accelerator and VC firm with a "hybrid" financing model for blockchain-enabled
businesses
− Hybrid? = combining two different forms of financing:
• The traditional VC model
• The newer ICO model
• Lykke Corporation spinoff (pioneer in blockchain-powered trading)
• Blockchain Investment Opportunities Note is an investment vehicle
− Capital investments for blockchain projects
− Cooperation with Vicenda
• Global investment boutique with focus on private debt investing
• “Bring borrowers and lenders together outside the realm of traditional financing sources”
Source: https://www.lykke.com/company/news/2018-05-blockchain-valley-ventures ; http://bvventures.ch/ ; https://vicendagroup.com/en/ (June 2018)

30. Blockchain & Real Assets

31. 31
BLOCKCHAIN?
• Smart(er) Contracts
(execution, transparency,
speed)
• Fraud Protection
(false listings, forged
documents, and rental
scams)
• Affordable Investing
(fractional ownership)
• Cutting Out The Middlemen
(brokers, lawyers, banks)

32. 32
Token Estate Investment Vehicle
Tokenestate
Source: https://tokenestate.io/Tokenestate_io_Whitepaper.pdf (October 2017)
• Aim to be a more efficient and liquid via
Real Estate Tokens vs. standard
alternative investment vehicles
• ‘Tokenholders’ entitled to a share of net
profits generated by a portfolio of real
estate properties
• ‘Token Estate Investment Vehicle’ owns
the properties
− Property titles haven’t yet been ‘tokenized’
− Tokenholders rights not yet recognized in
court
− Tokenholders cannot yet be the legal
owners of real estate.
− Need to have a trusted intermediary which
will be the legal owner of the properties,
while issuing tokens to investors in
exchange for funds.

33. 33
Bringing Real Estate Assets on Blockchain
Crypto Real Estate (Swiss Real Coin)
Source: https://www.swissrealcoin.io/RZ_SwissRealCoin_Whitepaper_A4_E_v2.pdf (March 2018)
• Challenge: asymmetric information during real estate asset ownership transfer increases due diligence costs.
• Opportunity:
− Reduced due diligence costs
− Increase transaction efficiency through data integrity
− Blockchain provides permanent, non-corruptible and complete access to all
property information
− “offer full liquidity on the relevant market places and grant real time access to key
information about the real estate (e.g. clear overview of occupancy rates, rent-free
months, etc.”) via the coin
• SwissRealCoin (SRC)
− emitted by Crypto Real Estate Ltd (CRE) in Zug
− SRC a Swiss Law governed bond structured to fund the activities of CRE and the acquisition of the real estate
• Linking the SRC inner value (real estate portfolio) with the SRC market price to avoid volatility
− “if the market price of the SRC exceeds the inner value of the SRC by two times, the SRC smart contract therefore will issue
additional SRCs at market price to increase the inner value”
− “reinvestment of the majority of the net rental income shall also continuously increase the inner value of the SRC”

34. 34
Blockchain register of rights to build
WeCan.Fund
Foundation of Industrial Land (fti)
Geneva public company which assists manufacturers in the search for land and premises
“Beyond providing transparency on the rights to be built, the interest is to decentralize exchanges,
facilitate audit and speed up processes.”
Sources: https://wecan.fund/blockchain/fti/ (June 2018) and https://wecan.fund/media/upload/various/blockchain_noffer/OC-Blockchain-2018-EN_YL3evXt.pdf

35. 35
Passion Investments
WealthInitiative – non bankable assets on the blockchain
Challenges:
• Legal: linking on/off-chain – legal rights of
token holders for the asset held in the physical
world => IoT
• Passion investments*: Lack of provenance
history and condition reports, highly
fragmented and inefficient market associated
with high transaction costs.
• Real Estate: lack of international standards
and high bureaucracy make cross border
transactions challenging. Slow transaction
time and arduous process.
• Art: highly inefficient art market associated
with high transaction costs and opaque
information data.
• Direct equity investments: lack of fair
valuation methods and asymmetry of
information available.
* include classic cars, fine wine, gems and jewellery, boats, aircraft, rare watches, rare stamps, coins, musical instruments, manuscripts etc.
Source: whitepaper v 1.6 as of June 2018

36. 36
Blockchain Use-Case For Trade Finance
Cerealia
• Peer-to-peer grains trading and financing marketplace for SMEs and farmers
• Using Blockchain, AI, IoT for the better of the industry
• Founded by a 20 years-experienced grain trader
• Use cases:
− Get out of the USD regime
− Provide a trusted platform for trades
− Document transparency, traceability and accessibility
Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve-N-geyag4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI1KOcZ4M08 (June 2018)

37. 37
Direct Ownership of Gold & Silver
Tarco International & AgAu
• Fully decentralised ownership of cryptocurrencies
• 100% backed by physical and allocated gold & silver
• stored in secure world class vaulting facilities in CH
• AgAu Gold Cryptocurrency
− AgAu.GLD backed by gold 99.99% quality (1g of Au)
• AgAu Silver Cryptocurrency
− AgAu.SLV backed by silver 99.99% quality (1g of Ag)
• Why Blockchain?
− Distributed ledger technology to disintermediate the
maximum number of points of failure, including central
banks and traditional exchanges.
Source: https://www.tarco.ch/ and https://www.agau.io/ (June 2018)

38. 38
Commodity Giants & Banks Consortium
Geneva in the spotlight
• Q1 2017
− ING, Mercuria and Société Générale ignited Easy Trading Connect, considered the first entry of such banking + commodity players
into Blockchain
− Objective: an experience to sell to China an oil shipment containing African crude oil through a bank, agent and inspector. Repeated
three times, the traditional process was simplified and the average banking transaction was reduced from 3 hours to 25 minutes,
beating hourly profitability rates.
• Q4 2017:
− BP, Shell and Statoil announced a partnership with Mercuria, Koch Supply & Trading and Gunvor along with banks ABN Amro, ING
and Société Générale.
− Objective: reduce administrative operational risks & costs of trading physical energy.
− The partnership structured focuses on the raw materials industry, with objective to replace traditional paper contracts and
exploitation documents by smart contracts and authenticated transfer of electronic documents.
Source: https://www.letemps.ch/economie/negociants-geneve-sallient-imposer-blockchain (November 2017)

39. 39
“Smart” Intellectual Property Rights
• “Since distributed ledger technology creates a secure, time-stamped and immutable chain of information, it
is already finding applications in brand protection and enforcement, marketing and consumer
engagement.” (WIPO)
• “The law firm P&TS (Switzerland) has for example an agreement with the Bernstein Technologies GmbH
which offers notarisation services for invention announcements based on blockchain technology, in order
to establish irrefutably the possession of an invention or a work.” (ref. Medium article)
• Possible applications (WIPO):
− “In the context of IP-heavy industries, blockchain and related distributed ledger technology offer obvious
possibilities for IP protection and registration and as evidence, either at the registry stage or in court”
− evidence of creatorship and provenance authentication, registering and clearing IP rights;
− controlling and tracking the distribution of (un)registered IP;
− providing evidence of genuine and/or first use in trade and/or commerce;
− digital rights management (e.g., online music sites);
− establishing and enforcing IP agreements, licenses or exclusive distribution networks through smart contracts;
− transmitting payments in real-time to IP owners;
− authentication and provenance purposes in the detection and/or retrieval of counterfeit, stolen and parallel-
imported goods.
Source: http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2018/01/article_0005.html (February 2018) ; https://medium.com/@foustry/blockchain-based-solutions-for-intellectual-
property-management-2ba14b51d5f6 (May 2017) ; https://euipo.europa.eu/knowledge/course/view.php?id=3038 (2018)

40. 40
1. Forest assets converted into tokens 2. ROI: token value appreciation &
dividends
3. Marketplace: hold or sell
Natural Resources and Land
“Gold that Grows”: Blockchain transforming Forest Ownership & Impact Investing
• An attractive asset class
− real, stable returns over the long term
− largely uncorrelated with traditional assets
− Grow in size & economic value over time
− ESG / SRI
• Challenges
− Access to ownership / minimum investment
− Long term to maturity / illiquid
− Regulatory
Source: http://www.youareoxygen.com/2018/05/30/gold-that-grows-how-blockchains-can-transform-forest-ownership-and-impact-investing/ (May 2018)
https://www.ekofolio.com/ as of June 2018
➢ EkoFolio searches the world for sustainable forest investment opportunities, then fractionalise ownership by issuing
tokens that represent the rights and value of ownership
➢ Part of the Fintech Sandbox with the Danish FSA

41. Blockchain & Structure
Products

42. 42
Structure Products
• Challenges within Structured Products
− confusing terms, high fees and pushy sales practices by distributors
• Opportunities via Blockchain
− Make structured notes “cheaper, faster and safer” (Nilesh Jethwa, Marex CEO)
• Remove intermediaries to potentially reduce fees
• Reduced time to complete trades from 2 days “to minutes, if not seconds”
• Decreasing the possibility of human error and settlement failure
• London-based Marex Solutions creates first note using crypto technology (March 2018)
− “it says is the first structured product to be registered, cleared and settled using the distributed ledger
technology underpinning Bitcoin”
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/blockchain-enters-opaque-territory-with-first-structured-note (March 2018)

44. 44
Join the new EMEA
open group on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/caia-emea/

45. Stay-tuned on
Alternative Investments
via CAIA Association

46. 46
Startup Weekend Fintech Geneva
Batch #4, Geneva, 1-3 June 2018 @ Fusion
Blockchain edition
Total Attendees as of today: 327 attendees at 4batches
Passionate Mentors & Speakers: 50 mentors (includes recurring)
Dedicated Jury Members: 20 juries (includes recurring)
Total Startups spawned: 10 Startups
Fintecture (now at Station F Paris)
DynaMetrics (now at F10 Zurich)
and also projects: WeGo / NGOpen / BetterHalf / TradeForce / OWI / WealthPassport / AMRAC / Zerrro Fee
Total Community: 1’350+ Meetup Members gather around Meetups
https://www.meetup.com/Startup-Weekend-FinTech-Geneva/
@genevafintech #swfintechgva

47. Keep in touch
(not yet via the Blockchain)
LINKEDIN: Jérôme Vasamillet
TWITTER: @jerome_vasa