The #Blockchain Tsunami finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held companies

1. BLOCKCHAINThe “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
In 2018, Luxury brands and their business operations, whether a global luxury consumer brand or a niche
luxury service, the operations, personal interests & managed assets, whether a tailored travel service for
HNWs, or a yacht management company, cant avoid the ‘Blockchain Tsunami’ coming to these shores.
Like non-luxury service and product sectors, behind the facade of intimate and elitist marketing and
availability, Luxury companies should be looking just as favourably upon what Blockchain can bring to the
enterprise, as much as mass produced consumer product and brands. While the challenge of Luxury is to
provide limited supply of quality products and niche premium services, the premise of what Blockchain
brings in terms of innovation, decentralisation and liquidity of investment, is undeniable.
Because of the advent of Blockchain, every
aspect of a luxury enterprises’s asset
management is beginning the disruptive journey
of a transactional switchover to Blockchain-
powered platforms & partners over the next 24
months. It started last year, you simply may not
have noticed. From your suppliers and strategic
partners, to your banking providers, from your
elite clientele to your closest circle of
colleagues, the world around you is evolving to
embrace Blockchain & a new revolution in
decentralisation, democratisation & liquidity.
As a successful Entrepreneur or senior corporate player of a luxury brand, you may be familiar hearing
of your trusted inner-circle of colleagues bragging of their tales of adventure (or misadventure!) in
‘crypto’ investments, but what you may not associate is that crypto is a merely a by-product of the
advent of Blockchain and came to life around as early as 2009.
Over 1000 crypto currencies exist today and that
number is multiplying exponentially. Yes, it attracts
money launderers, here-today-gone-tomorrow
‘money exchanges’, poor investment strategies and
general currency volatility, but as part of the overall
story of Blockchain and how it is changing the face of
business, especially in the luxury sector, where most
entities and their management assume Blockchain is
for low-tech consumer brands, these same enterprises
are in for a rude awakening.
This quarter alone, there are over 100 Luxury Blockchain initiatives raising money,
that will change the face of how luxury enterprises operate. Blockchain is affecting
every aspect of an operation; from Supply Chain management to insurance; from
Peer-to-Peer lending to stock control; from Bills of Lading to Regulatory reporting and
from reconciliation to marketing, all will be handled by Blockchain developed Smart
Contracts & innovation. From Shipping or yacht management to Luxury high ticket
priced items, with the next 3 years Blockchain, no luxury brand is immune to the
effects of how Blockchain will change the way we transact, operationally and
marketing-wise.
That’s an average fund raise of $12.7m per enterprise,
whose total turnover across 500 enterprises barely
registers $100m
...In 2017 alone, ICOs raised over
$5.6 billion from 435 companies
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2. BLOCKCHAINThese speculative investments, where enterprises raise funds to invest and liquidate, come to market via
another by-product of Blockchain, that being ‘ICO’s’, otherwise knows as Initial Coin Offerings (a play on
the phrase IPOs), which came to prevalence mainly in the last 18 months. Think if it as something
equivalent to the new ‘dot-com boom’, certainly as far as disruptive industries and international telephone
number sized finances being raised, with not a Venture capitalist in site.
In 2017 alone, ICOs raised over $5.6 billion from
435 companies in the form of a finite supply of
digital tokens (referred to as “Tokenisation’), with
investment time windows of only a few weeks or
less in certain cases to raise the money before
fund-raising closes. That’s an average fund raise
of $12.7m per enterprise, whose total turnover
across nearly 500 enterprises barely registers
$100m across the entire base of fundraisers. 10%
of those ICOs were in luxury related sectors. This
year that percentage is set to increase to 15% or
more.
More staggering was the number of individuals who invested in ICOs, where Blockchain driven
enterprises who raised tens of millions of dollars, helped provided new ecosystems for building/
providing products and services, introducing new users of the benefits of the Blockchain and sizeable
fundraising with liquidity for both investors and management.
From Gaming to Medical, from Artificial Intelligence to Maritime, from Insurance to Fintech including
even the Royal Mint and Investment banks,the fund raising drew in an estimated 40-50 million novice
investors, globally. More interesting, was that for the many ICOs who choose not to seek SEC or FCA
regulatory approval (after all the tokens that are on offer to invest in a securitised product), was that
these high investment sums were raised without an American or European investor in site in many cases,
as the SEC prohibits investment from non-securitised tokens (which is the vehicle one is investing in).
Effectively ICOs with their Blockchain-powered disruptive ideas, were seen as a cross between crowd-
funding and bond-trading, courted by lightly-educated investors and speculative currency day-traders.
Only a handful of ICOs were fully SEC approved (who kept having to move goalposts to take account of
what ‘is’ a securitisation vehicle in this domain), albeit most will come to regret avoiding that essential
hurdle that all securitisation offerings need to adhere to if you’re to attract investors or trade in North
America and Europe for that matter.
A good product or service, strong management team & track record, yet to be fully
industry proofed, a white paper and sharp viral marketing program thats built to
attract hundreds of thousands of investors would be required by each respective ICO
investing in the tokenization scheme, anything from $300 to $100,000, according to the
Smart Contracts reported on the average Blockchain ledgers. The estimated costs of
building towards an ICO, from administration to marketing, including commissioning
top lawyers to deal with regulatory approval, runs around $350-500,000 pre-ICO
launch, albeit the cost doesn’t rise much above this in order to be raising between
$30-50 million, via digital tokens, aligned to crypto currencies. If you’re clever, one can
offset some of these costs by offering tokens for the advisors who help a brand
towards an ICO, but don’t expect them to take tokens payment when they can grab
FIAT currency payments upfront, instead! Luxury brands fall into these conditions to,
for them, the rules operationally speaking are the same, if not the end deliverable.
ICO fund raising drew in an estimated 40-50
million novice investors
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The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies

3. BLOCKCHAINThe upside of Blockchain themed ICOs is that they have bought potential financial liquidity to the
management & investors of these (what are effectively) private enterprises, in the form of tokens (in
some cases) aligning directly to shareholding, where the ICO tokens are in limited supply, available
to be initially purchased during the ICO period, where they are factored against specific crypto-
currencies (namely Etherium), which in of themselves correlated to a live FIAT currency value.
Imagine holding onto tokens with either or both a
utilisation purpose or securitised value, where in
2017/18 tokens on average have risen a minimum
high of 10 times their initial face value, albeit with a
level of volatility attached, such has been the
demand in certain cases where there is a legitimate
user base for the product or service, rather than just
speculative traders. The latter stop trading when
they cant see what the fuss is about regarding a new
or progeny enterprise, should it fail to attract a user
base or industry-proof product within a reasonable
time. We still apply old schools values of both public
and private corporations to the rules of “value” in
ICO Blockchain initiatives.
One HNW colleague of mine invested $30,000 on tokens that at one stage carried a value of
$2,000,000 almost overnight, albeit not without its challenges in that same person trying to
withdraw the tokens via a crypto exchange (put it down to poor investor strategy in this case!). In
principle, there is liquidity on tokenised private ventures nonetheless, without the need for VC or PE
finance, post an ICO taking place.
The ICO fund raising provides not only a full exit
or partial liquidation of investment for seed
investors and the management, but allows the
e n t e r p r i s e s t o f u n d d e v e l o p m e n t ,
commercialisation, platform creation, whilst (if
done legitimately) addresses regulatory
procedures and requirements, as well as most
importantly, creating an ecosystem for the future
where strategic partners, suppliers, customers,
even competitors can benefit from collaborating
on their Blockchain, in addition to being
investors at the same time, where we all gain.
If you have no desire to turn your existing business or progeny offshoots towards Blockchain and ICOs,
then you will be not be surprised to know this Blockchain Tsunami will reach you by other means. Right
now, as a High Net Worth individual, there’s an 80% chance your bank or financial representatives are
working on various Blockchain projects, pioneered by the likes of Barclay’s bank who recently
introduced the first Traditional Banking Blockchain transactions. Now the likes of clearing houses and
investment planning is turning to Artificial Intelligence driven initiatives through Blockchain eco-
systems, where we find the Blockchain technology partially owned and controlled by the financial
enterprises but with a decentralised partition where third parties can develop capabilities and services
off the back of the open source access to the data and supply chain management. At some point, as an
HNW individual, you will be exposed to Blockchain lending initiatives, investment plans or simply day
to day trading.
in 2017/18 tokens on average have risen a
minimum high of 10 times initial face value
The upside of Blockchain ICOs is that they have bought
potential financial liquidity to the management
3
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies

4. BLOCKCHAINEven luxury enterprises are learning to loosen-up restrictions of their ‘innovation capabilities’ relying
only upon their averagely-paid and fatigued workers and consider opening out their enterprise eco-
system via Blockchain to thousands of experts in design, coding, analytics, diagnostics, data,
forecasting, algorithms, business development, where they can be incentived via Blockchain token
payments, to develop solus or in virtual teams, new innovations built onto the Blockchain. A current AI
medical drive for identifying new pathways that identify why certain cancers metastasise has attracted
over 20,000 data analysts globally to work casually on the project and be paid by either success of
solving mini-challenges or by the hours they simply put in, via crypto/tokens. A bold statement would
be to say, the next generation of workers, whether for luxury or non luxury brands will not full time
office based employees, but a global tribe of floating experts dipping and out of adding innovative
solutions to challenges, choosing to work by the hour rather than seek employee benefits and long
term golden handshakes.
As a result of adoption of Blockchain in the luxury
marketplace, a series of industry sectors are about to begin
the long road to evolutionary obsoletion of white collar
workers, from recruitment agencies to Stock brokers, from
luxury real estate agencies to forensic lawyers. One industry
executive who is part of a global music and sports licensing
company couldn’t see how Blockchain technology played a
part in what is essentially a “people business”. He failed to
recognise that Digital rights management, distribution of
content, copyright administration, promotion of events, all
relied on supply chain management, CRM and marketing
technologies to administer each “personal” relationship.
Blockchain will take this to another level even for his
successful organisation.
Luxury enterprises rely heavily more and more on data and If data is your ‘new gold’, then you
should know the likes of Oracle, Amazon and IBM are investing heavily in Blockchain powered data
sharing on a global scale to allow for greater encryption as well as global access of incisive data on
users, at the point of micro-applications. Recently, a maritime specialist also queried whether
Blockchain has any relevance, only for me to inform them IBM specifically is adopting new strategies
to convince its clients to adopt Blockchain powered ledgers, such as the ports within Dubai’s
enterprise zone, where a staggering $344 billion worth of goods pass through this enterprise zone
alone, soon to be via Blockchain powered supply chain management.
For entrepreneurs in the luxury sector, in 2018 there is around a 15% of
your clientele who are favourable to paying in crypto currencies for their
luxury goods and services, having risen from 7.7% in 2017. In 2019 it is
expected to rise to 25%. In recent research on HNW spend in 2017,
individuals were prepared to spend some 49% more on experiential luxury
travel than their incumbent position, as well as 43% more on dining out
prices, as well as 30% more on luxury goods than they already do, where
crypto will soon become part of the portfolio of methods of payments. As
an enterprise you need to be geared up to take this change in payment
onboard, not only at a transactional level but also at a marketing level.
These same HNW clientele of your luxury brand or service, may pay in your
own branded tokens, whereupon it is actually an investment for them, as
they could make money from paying for your goods. Imagine what we are
saying here, “You make money buy buying our products and services”
a series of industry sectors are about to
begin the long road to evolutionary
obsoletion of white collar workers
4
15% of your luxury
clientele are favourable
to paying in crypto
currencies
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies

5. BLOCKCHAINIn luxury sectors such as Yacht chartering & Yacht management crypto payments have allowed for last
minute high-security encrypted transfers to be made, that can remain entirely anonymous, avoiding
third party brokers or government knowledge, whilst eliminating fraud, with high-end encryption
which is synonymous with leading crypto currencies. Even ICO’s such as BoatPilot are bringing
disruptive ideas to Luxury yachting and maritime through Blockchain powered navigation information
platforms, with many more to come down the loan over the next 12 months.
Now the luxury sector is embracing Blockchain
four supply chain management to payments from
the likes of Tesla cars to Superyacht management.
The early-adopters are about to take an
exponential lead in their respective luxury
marketplaces, while looking as to how Blockchain
can aid the areas where over-reliance on human
intervention at great cost can be replaced by
Blockchain powered Artificial intelligence, from
calculating provisions requirements to Supply
Chain Management. It’s not just the hedge fund
you invest in that is using AI and Blockchain to
replace human decision-making, it should be your
corporation also that considers how you can
benefit from this new revolution.
In summary, there were over 30 luxury brand
Blockchain-powered ICO’s launched in the last few
months of 2017, with triple the number due in
2018. In luxury sub-categories of Blockchain
enterprises are developing including fractional
ownership in luxury cars & consumer brands
(BitCar, Tend), luxury goods - trading & lifestyle
platforms (Luxure, BanCoin, Cionnoor), luxury
personal travel concierge (Wel ICO), Luxury Real
Estate (The Crypto Reality group, Club Royal,
Chimera), Verification of Luxury Consumer
products and brands (VeChain), Luxury clubs and
Memberships (Aditus), luxury products (including
the beautifully crafted Ancora Pens), even the
luxury Fashion TV turning towards ICO’s to
liquidate its investments from shareholders.
Blockchain is changing your luxury clientele
attitude to purchase, changing your operational
architecture to adopt more flexible means to grow,
innovate, raise Captial and liquidate financial
investment.
Article by Andrew Grant Super, advisor on ICOs in the luxury, entertainment & travel sectors,
linkedin http://linkedin.com/in/riikrstudios
early-adopters are about to take an exponential
lead in their respective luxury marketplaces
For newer luxury enterprises Blockchain driven
solution from either existing brands or start-up
enterprises took the lead as far as 2017 sectors
went, albeit after the deluge of Fintech and
Entertainment sector enterprises paved the way
in 2016 onwards.
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The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
The “Blockchain Tsunami” finally reaches the Internet of Luxury (IoL), making
VCs obsolete & creating financial liquidity in privately-held luxury companies
30 luxury brand Blockchain-powered ICO’s
launched in the last few months of 2017