/biz/ - Business & Finance

Switzerland and Liechtenstein are quite similar — culturally and militarily Liechtenstein is just another canton of Switzerland, though Liechtenstein is a sovereign state and therefore more agile as it comes to regulation. Liechtenstein is also treated somewhat differently by the OECD, having only been removed from their "List of Uncooperative Tax Havens" in 2011 https://www.oecd.org/ctp/exchange-of-tax-information/andorraliechtensteinandmonacoremovedfromoecdlistofunco-operativetaxhavens.htm.. This is because Liechtenstein's banking secrecy functions differently than Switzerland's, and foundations in Liechtenstein enjoy incredible secrecy with no taxes. Liechtenstein is also one of the few countries that still allows for bearer shares to be issued (see this FinCen advisory from 2000: https://www.fincen.gov/index.php/resources/advisories/fincen-advisory-issue-19).).

Because of this, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are swimming in money. This is how LCX is able to score their pro advisory panel and WEF membership — they have a ton of untraceable private capital backing them. You should take these partnerships more as a signal that LCX has a lot of money behind them, not a signal that they have revolutionary technology or people (see: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/who-pays-for-davos).). This may very well be enough. Capital and regulatory backing can get a project very far, and LCX has both. Liechtenstein will essentially craft the regulation LCX needs to succeed, and LCX has a safe haven of capital with private and family office investors in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

This means they have the money to invite anyone they want. Don Tapscott was paid in the range of $50-100k just for his 15 minute speaking engagement to a group of ~100 people.

This huge amount of available capital carries downsides though, namely that there is very little pressure to actually find product-market fit and create a startup which provides real value. This is one of Silicon Valley's biggest advantages — an ecosystem of investors that prioritize growth, users, and product-market fit above all else. The scrappiness that produces good tech companies like Airbnb and Dropbox is one of Silicon Valley's greatest assets. The DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Liechtenstein both function very differently, with the notable exception of Berlin (the "startup capital" of Europe). Crypto projects also have this problem — ICO raises often trail off and the projects die, because there is little pressure to build an actually useful product.

These projects are emphatically not scams, but this is not to say will build great products.

A few things to note about LCX:

- The advisors are legitimate (though I am not completely sure about Jimmy Wales). Their "blockchain sessions" are where they interview their advisors. See for example this with Shoucheng Zhang, an immensely respected, though now deceased Stanford professor: https://www.lcx.com/lcx-blockchain-sessions-prof-dr-shoucheng-zhang/))
- The LCX development team is almost entirely outsourced. Do not expect groundbreaking tech or cutting-edge software design on their upcoming revamp. Align your expectations to the typical online banking experience — functional, but not great.
- KYC requirements will be a hassle, especially because of FATCA. Most Swiss token sales exclude US investors from their ICOs for this reason.

>>50733309
- The "Prince of Liechtenstein" affiliated with the project is Prince Michael, not Prince Hans-Adam II (who is the truly wealthy one, at $4 billion personal net worth). To get an idea of how the family tree looks, take a look at this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Liechtenstein.. Prince Michael has influence within the royal family, but don't be confused — he is not *the* prince.
- The Crypto Valley is full of global megacorps who quietly place their headquarters in Zug. Siemens, Johnson & Johnson, and Glencore are all headquartered in either Zug and/or Baar. Liechtenstein, in turn, is also full of companies like this. If institutional investors in the DACH region wish to purchase Bitcoin or ETH, they use Bitcoin Suisse (https://www.bitcoinsuisse.com/).). Until LCX announces an integration or partnership with Bitcoin Suisse, I would not expect them to process large institutional investments. They simply do not have the necessary order flow.

About me:

I got into this space after making a number of lucky crypto picks in 2016, which left me with enough money to found a company.

Currently, I am cash poor — most of my money is locked up in the equity valuation of my company. For this reason, I don't play the crypto markets anymore (and I simply don't have enough time do do that anyway). However, I do have a few thousand dollars in various coins, LCX being one of them.

Advice:

imo this project is not a bad bet. I do not foresee LCX being on the same level as Binance within the next 3 years, but I may be wrong.

>>50733268
>Capital and regulatory backing can get a project very far, and LCX has both.
Yet somehow they hire people from INDIA

How do you think the SEC calling LCX a security will affect it's future?

>>50733261
I'm an insider too, anon. I'm inside her right now. I'm inside your mom, if you know what I mean.

>>50733405
yes, their development is outsourced. cutting edge development is not their point of difference.
>>50733521
i doubt it sticks, however i understand the relationship between liechtenstein and the SEC isn't great. too early to say

>>50733545
>I'm inside your mom, if you know what I mean.
What did he mean by this?

So what's going up? Give me a tl;dr

>>50733563
Can you prove that "liechtenstein" is actually a real place and not just a collection of letters you put together to sound smart

>>50733595
It means he’s a child

>>50733354
What are your other crypto investments if you don't mind me asking. Since you seem like a pretty sophisticated investor I'm assuming QNT and LINK have to be in your portfolio, right?

>>50733261
What’s the make it stack? I have 60k lcx.

>>50733639
i have a couple thousand in LCX and a few others, however i hardly have the time to research now. i like qnt
>>50733736
a small portion of your port, whatever you're comfortable losing. no more than 20%

>>50733793
>i like qnt
What do you think the chances of it being deemed an unregistered security by the SEC are?

>>50733885
foolish to even guess the SECs future position on any cryptocurrency

The money behind this is more than $50 million, less than $150m, as a rough estimate. No one is sinking highly significant amounts of capital in at this stage.

I can't give you any estimate on Brian Armstrong being the secret advisor. I would hasten to say he is not, because US securities regulation significantly restricts what founders of public companies can or cannot do, and the SEC is not befriended with Liechtenstein. I would say this is unlikely.

The thing is, as I mentioned, all these STO type platforms have an idea, but not product-market fit. Polymath is one of the Crypto Valley standouts. Even with all the backing and advisors, these projects will struggle, because they do not have a clearly defined niche or product market fit. Enterprise software often falls into the same trap.

>>50734037
>Polymath is one of the Crypto Valley standouts
Polymath is a scam https://youtu.be/_AV2FSlAcjw