Q&A - VALOR Token Public Sale
1. What is SMART VALOR?
SMART VALOR is a Swiss financial technology company founded in April 2017 in Zug (Crypto Valley), with subsidiaries in Munich (Germany) and Vaduz (Liechtenstein). The company has been selected from hundreds of applications to Thomson Reuters Incubator program in summer 2017 and recently moved from the Thomson Reuters Incubator into its new office in the Zug city center. Forbes named SMART VALOR “Europe’s top 10 most exciting SME” in 2018. The SMART VALOR Platform is the world’s first fully compliant security token exchange for alternative investments. It is made to give investors from around the world easy, secure and compliant access to the world of alternative investments.
Cryptocurrencies are only one of the newer categories of alternative investments. In the more traditional part of alternative investments — such as venture capital, real estate and private companies’ — the tokenization of assets is a true gamechanger. It creates better liquidity and accessibility through issuance and transfer on the blockchain. Therefore, it has a potential to democratize access to wealth and investments in this exclusive area. The first assets to be tokenized on SMART VALOR will be Venture Capital funds, real estate, shares of early-stage tech companies, etc. Currently the Early Access Program has been opened for up to 5.000 first users.
2. Under which regulations does SMART VALOR operate?
SMART VALOR is set to be the first fully regulated exchange for security tokens operating out of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. All the three major regulatory milestones have been achieved so far:
1) In Switzerland the company has received the status of Financial Intermediary;
2) in Liechtenstein it has registered to operate a fiat and currency exchange;
3) it has applied for a banking license in Liechtenstein. The latter, once granted will give the company access to the 26 European countries deposit taking activity and enable it to trade security tokens globally.
3. When does sale of VALOR cryptocurrency run?
On December 27th SMART VALOR opens the sale of its platform’s native cryptocurrency: VALOR. The total funding committed to the company currently amounts to CHF 6.1 m, while some contracts from the last round have been preliminarily closed pending the KYC/AML check.
From the very beginning SMART VALOR has received support from well-known investors in Switzerland such as Stephane Pictet, serial entrepreneur and investor who hails from one of the most respected and oldest private banks in Switzerland, the Pictet Group. This year, further contributors joined during the pre-sale of the platform’s native cryptocurrency VALOR, representing eight venture capital firms from Europe, US and Asia. Recently SMART VALOR has further announced Strategic Partnership & Investment from the Largest Chinese Corporation Active in Blockchain
4. Whom the sale of VALOR is meant for?
The participation of contributors is designed around core user groups of the platform:
Progressive investors: Want to be the first to access the exciting world of tokenized real assets with better liquidity and compliant practice?
Young tech companies, funds, project developers: Searching for a premium platform for distribution of your security token backed by real asset? One-stop shop for tokenization and distribution of utility and security tokens in trusted jurisdiction (Switzerland) including compliant on-boarding (AML/KYC) and secondary market liquidity.
Crypto investor: interested in gaining exposure to new digital asset class? Discover leading cryptocurrencies and protocol tokens while benefiting from secure custody solution and compliant onboarding (AML/KYC)
Professionals: Financial industry expert but want to try out something new? Use your expertise and earn VALOR cryptocurrency. Submit suggestion for assets to be listed on SMART VALOR Platform or co-syndicate with us a great investment opportunity. Or maybe you can write delicious code? There will be many ways to contribute and lead the digital assets revolution.
5. How does the VALOR cryptocurrency work?
The VALOR cryptocurrency has several functions such as providing access to the platform (membership), payment, rewards and voting. Staking If you have participated in presale of VALOR cryptocurrency, you can stake your token to become a premium member. Premium memberships are connected to exclusive rights such as:
VALOR PRIME Investor: early access to upcoming issues, preferred access to oversubscribed listings, voting on listing of the assets, etc. (staking 1.000 VALOR)
VALOR PRIME Partner: priority listing of your utility or security token on the SMART VALOR Platform; participation in issuance/deployment of Swiss Franc stable coin (CHFt); fast track institutional bank account opening, etc. (staking 100.000 or 200.000 VALOR)
VALOR Contributor: participation in task marketplace and rewards for contributed work (staking 250 VALOR)
The price development of VALOR is expected to be a function of supply and demand. On one side, the supply within the next years is limited by the amount of the tokens in circulation. The hard cap for ICO is fixed at 45 million of VALOR token. On the other side, the demand will be driven by the volume of new listings and number of PRIME investors on the platform. As asset issuers are required to stake a minimum of 100.000 VALOR for 12-months starting the initial listing of their asset-backed tokens, the demand for the VALOR token will be driven by the number of new listings. Therefore, as the platform scales, the demand for the VALOR token increases.
Payment
Any user can choose to pay for services on the SMART VALOR Platform, such as listing fees, transaction fees, custody fees in the native cryptocurrency, VALOR. In this case the user pays 30% less fees during the first year and 20–10% less during the following years. This creates an incentive for asset issuers and investors to purchase VALOR to pay for usage of the platform.
Rewards
Rewards are offered to active contributors on the platform. There are various programs for the different stakeholder groups, e.g. rewards for active investors, paybacks for asset issuers, rewards for contributors of work. Membership status is needed to access most of the reward programs.
Voting
In order to ensure the further development of the platform is in line with its members interests, regular surveys and voting polls are conducted. Holding VALOR tokens enables the participation. Depending on the vote, the participant’s quantity of VALOR tokens will be used in weighing the results.
6. How VALOR will be offered for sale?
The public sale of VALOR on the SMART VALOR Platform will start on 27th December and run through June 2019, followed by listing and start of trading. During this time, the current and potential users of the platform can purchase VALOR during the last 7 days of each month. VALOR will be offered for sale at a monthly decreasing bonus schedule, ending at 1 CHF (Swiss Franc) parity.
The VALOR public sale will open at the end of each month for 7 days during which the existing or prospective users of the platform will have a chance to participate in the sale.
During all rounds, the additional bonus of 5% is available for participation above CHF10.000.
In total, over the 7 rounds, SMART VALOR will distribute up to 10.000.000 VALOR to individual contributors, while the the remaining 27.000.000 out of 45.000.000 total, has been reserved for institutional investors and contributors.
With this approach we are following the small-step approach, which is becoming the new norm in the Venture Capital industry. This approach grants funding based on the milestones achieved. SMART VALOR has decided to voluntarily follow this approach. It has committed itself to achieving operational targets over a 6-month period of time, concluding in the fulfillment of the staged platform roll-out.
7. How I can purchase VALOR?
To purchase VALOR, you first need to register on SMART VALOR platform under www.smartvalor.io. You can register before or during the token sale period (current round: 27–31 December). After the registration, you have an option to complete ID verification and on-boarding process, which is prerequisite of the token purchase. It is only during the time frame of the token sale, when you can choose to purchase VALOR.
You can pay either with fiat via bank wire or with cryptocurrency (ETH, BTC). Credit card payment will be available starting January 2019.
There is no minimal contribution for crypto payments. For fiat the minimal contribution is 500 CHF.
For US citizens the condition of participation is the qualification as an accredited investor. According to Regulation D, we are allowed to take up up to 99 qualified investors, which is why the minimal contribution sum is 50.000 CHF/USD.
8. When VALOR token will be distributed to my wallet?
After confirmation of your payment and completion of KYC process, you will see the corresponding amount of VALOR in your account on SMART VALOR platform.
30 days after the closure of the ICO VALOR token can be transferred to your personal (non-SMART VALOR) wallet.
9. Where and when VALOR will be listed?
The VALOR token will be listed on the SMART VALOR Platform and selected partner exchanges. The listing is expected 30 days after the closure of the ICO.
10. What is the legal categorization of token?
VALOR token is an ERC-20 compliant token that will be issued on public Ethereum blockchain. The token is classified as a hybrid token: a combination of utility and payment token.
SMART VALOR has taken the most conservative approach and has applied with the SEC for an exemption from registration requirements according to Regulation D (Exemption 506c). With this exemption, SMART VALOR can offer 99 accredited investors from US the opportunity to participate in this offering.
In its home jurisdiction, Switzerland, SMART VALOR submitted its White Paper and token model to Swiss financial regulator (FINMA) and received a positive response (no-action-letter) supporting the utility and payment token categorization of the VALOR.
11. Why does SMART VALOR issuing non-security token?
The unique advantage of non-security tokens is that it is possible to distribute them globally (i.e. in the majority of the countries) to non-accredited investors in a compliant and legal way. Therefore, in the cases where the major purpose of token is to attract and hold a global audience of users, the utility token provides the most sensible way. Regarding the reward program, users in many countries cannot be rewarded or paid in securities. These are the major reasons why we committed ourselves to the issuance of the utility-payment-token.
The right token design can incentivize users to contribute value or “stick” to the platform. This business model innovation was implemented and tested on several platform businesses before. Some of them proved very useful and highly functional, such as Binance’s BNB token. The great utility of the BNB and the growth of the platform resulted in an increase in value of the token by 5.820% since its launch in September 2017.
Where can I find further information?
- Videos
- News
Register for the sale of VALOR here and become part of our exciting journey to the democratization of wealth!
Disclaimer: SMART VALOR reserves the right to change the distribution schedule and/or impose additional restrictions on transfer and resale if required by legal regulation. You should also review our most recent FAQs, Whitepaper for a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, particularly under in the section “Disclaimer and risk factors” in the Whitepaper.
Originally published at smartvalor.com on December 26, 2018.
