Mt Pelerin closes first $2 million for blockchain based bank project

Mt Pelerin, a Swiss startup developing a blockchain-enabled bank application, has announced they have successfully closed their first stage of funding with 5% of its tokenized equity sold to the crowd.

In October 2018, Mt Pelerin Group SA incorporated 100% of its share-equity on the blockchain in the form of tokens, a token being fully equivalent to a share. Token holders could now be recognized as shareholders by Swiss law and not by contractual agreement.

Mt Pelerin has been able to sell without any intermediary the 500,000 shares that were offered directly to the public and successfully closed its first funding round.

Participation

570 investors coming from around thirty different countries bought tokenized shares from the company with a median investment of USD $$1,065. In addition to the diversity of the profile of these investors, Mt Pelerin has also noted a cross-generational enthusiasm with ages ranging from 20 to 84 years old. Among those small investors, many were investing for the very first time in equity. The simple contribution process and the low minimum investment amount (USD 250) played a key role in encouraging participation.

For Mt Pelerin, this experience – from the possibility to create tokenized shares to the general public’s mobilization – is the empirical demonstration of the interest for easier access to investment and financial instruments that the blockchain and tokenization make possible. This assumption is at the core of the new bank that Mt Pelerin is building, which seeks to give individuals and businesses a choice and flexibility in the way they invest and finance themselves.

Mt Pelerin aims to obtain a banking license in Switzerland by the end of 2019 and begin its operations in early 2020.