2018-02-16 The flops of the Zuger Krypto-Pioniers - Economy - tagesanzeiger.

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The flops of the Zug Crypto-Pioneer

Johann Gevers, chief thinker of the Crypto Valley, stages himself as a genius entrepreneur. If you
look, you will find internal criticism, failures - and paranoia.

Mario Stäuble
Reporter
@mario_staeuble 08:37

Article on the topic

The crypto-war for

$ 232 million in train

Finance Minister Ueli Mauer (center) was informed by Johann Gevers (left) about crypto-finance.
Photo: Urs Flüeler (Keystone) A start-up wants to collect $ 20 million -
enthusiastic investors flood the accounts but
with 232 million. Only: who owns the
On August 25, 2017, Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer (SVP) goes on an excursion. He money? More...
visits start-ups to learn where the Swiss financial center is heading. Mason stops in Mario Staeuble. 03/02/2018
Zug at the company Monetas. A photo of that meeting shows founder Johann Gevers
in conversation with Maurer and Matthias Michel (FDP), the economics director of Gold rush in Zug: $ 230
Zug. The native South African Gevers has a lot to tell: his company wants to change million collected in 13 days
the global financial system. In the future, everyone should be able to process their The tax haven becomes an Eldorado for
payments with their smartphone. In the eye Gevers has especially Africa, where large money-makers who want to benefit from a
parts of the population have no bank account. digital platform. A case is particularly
blatant. More...
Andreas Flütsch. 07/14/2017
What Ueli Maurer does not know during his visit: Gevers' company will soon go
bankrupt. She is struggling with serious financial problems and has left most
employees behind. Three months after the meeting, on 5 December 2017, a court in The editors on Twitter
Zug declares Monetas bankrupt. Only six days earlier, Gevers announced in an
investor update that it would reach breakeven by the second quarter of 2018. Always informed and up to date. Follow us on
the short message service.
"Onward and upward!" Stood as a greeting among his lines, "forward and up!".
@tagesanzeiger follow

The 52-year-old Gevers, who

immigrated to Switzerland from
Canada in 2013, was one of the
first to see an ideal base for
cryptographic companies in Zug.

The 52-year-old Gevers, who immigrated to Switzerland from Canada in 2013, was
one of the first to see an ideal base for cryptographic companies in Zug. On the job
platform Linkedin, he calls himself «creator of the Crypto Valley ecosystem». He
lectured on lectures, gave dozens of interviews - including this newspaper - and
enthused about the location in Zug: legal security, decentralized structures, financial
center tradition, low taxes. Gevers is the "chief thinker" of the Crypto Valley
movement, says Zug City Mayor Dolfi Müller (SP).

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2018-02-16 The flops of the Zuger Krypto-Pioniers - Economy - tagesanzeiger.ch
The idea ignited. Well-known start-ups like Ethereum or Xapo installed themselves
on Lake Zug. When Stadtpräsident Müller called the "New York Times" and Asian TV
stations to report on that Swiss town in which the authorities accept Bitcoin. Even
Johann Schneider-Ammann adapted the marketing coup: "It does not have to stay
with the Crypto Valley, it should become the crypto nation," said the Minister of
Economics recently the "Tagesschau".

So who is Johann Gevers, the mastermind who himself is listening to Federal

Councilors?

Half professor, half pastor

When he performs publicly, he often wears black. He lectures in a gentle voice, half
Pastor, half Professor, jumps from the invention of printing to the Internet to
Bitcoin, to come to his thesis: the current financial system? Outdated. Blockchain
and crypto-finance? The future. He himself? In the middle.

A research of this newspaper shows that behind the image of the ingenious visionary
hides a second image: that of a power man, call the ex-employee as "not critical". His
projects crashed. And some specialists see this as a risk for Zug's financial center.

Gevers is a descendant of German emigrants, grew up on a farm near the South

African town of Vrijheid, in English: Freiheit. He is considered an admirer of the
libertarian author Ayn Rand. In his CV, he describes himself as a "rare combination
of experience in portfolio management, business consulting and finance"; he has
"extraordinary international experience".

Court documents from Canada qualify this representation. On 4 December 2009,

Johann Gevers filed for bankruptcy in Vancouver. At that time, as a job, he stated:
"Massage / odd jobs". The dossier lists debts of 267,000 Canadian dollars. Among
other things, Gevers covered eleven credit cards.

Behind the image of the

ingenious visionary hides a
second image: that of a power-
man. Which some specialists see
as a risk to the Zug financial
center.

He brought the company Monetas from Canada to Switzerland. Former Goldman

Sachs analyst Katalin Tischhauser worked from 2015 to 2016 as a board member and
manager for the start-up. The Englishwoman accuses Gevers of poor management
and squandering of around 10 million francs on investor funds.

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Applies to employees as "not critical": Geevers in 2015. Photo: Urs Jaudas

Gevers was in control of Monetas through a mailbox company on Anguilla, but at the
same time provided software developers with only "vague visions" and changed his
instructions over and over again. "Outwardly Johann was great - he can inspire
people," says Muharem Hrjadovic. The current Google engineer was chief developer
at Monetas from 2014 to 2016. "But for your own team, it takes more than visions,
namely transparency and plans, which are also implemented." In addition, Gevers
was not criticized: "If anyone criticized him, Johann said of 'dark powers', which is
his work wanted to destroy, »says analyst Tischhauser.

Not in the office for weeks

The seed capital melted away. According to Tischhauser and Hrnjadovic, Gevers
employees repeatedly misled as to when the months-long salaries would be paid out.
He did not tell newly-hired developers how bad the company was, but talked about
positive prospects. "As a boss, he sometimes did not come to the office for weeks,"
says Tischhauser. Financial statements were delayed by years, which led to problems
with the tax office and interested investors. Externally, Gevers oversimplified the
state of the Monetas system - "as if it was about to be completed," says Tischhauser.
"He did not seem to be aware of the true state of the platform."

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It is normal that at a start-up wages are sometimes not on time in the employees'
accounts, says Muharem Hrjadovic - "but you have to communicate it early enough
and inform employees about the situation". At the end of 2016 almost all employees
left Monetas, also Hrnjadovic left. Tischhauser was fired.

Johann Gevers is the "public face" of Crypto Valley, but has done a lot of damage
with Monetas, says Hrnjadovic: "This represents a considerable risk for the Crypto
Valley, for Zug and the Swiss financial center."

On request, Johann Gevers writes that the mood at Monetas has been excellent,
under his leadership the start-up has built up a 30-member team and received wide
recognition. But then Monetas had run out of funds, many start-ups got into this
"death valley". This led to the departure of a large part of the team.

Crypto war

The criticism of Muharem Hrnjadovic is not only aimed at Monetas. The developer,
like many other crypto enthusiasts, has put part of his bitcoin supply into a new
startup: Tezos. A new decentralized platform to handle transactions like Bitcoin, only
better. But: Tezos is in the middle of a controversy. And here, too, Johann Gevers is a
protagonist.

In July 2017, Tezos launched a digital IPO in Zug, an initial coin offering, earning $
232 million worth of crypto money, a record amount. The money went to the Swiss
Tezos Foundation. President: Johann Gevers. The task of the foundation is to
promote the Tezos platform - for example by investing in software development. In
the fall, however, founder Arthur Breitman and Gevers quarreled. Since then, a war
raging for the control of the foundation and thus for the millions.

Among Tezos developers and

investors Gevers became a hate
character. In their eyes, he
prevented the millions being
raised from being rapidly
pumped into development.

Among Tezos developers and investors Gevers became a hate character. In their eyes,
he prevented the millions being raised from being rapidly pumped into development.
In the US, disappointed investors launched class action lawsuits. Attempts were
made to remove Gevers from the Board of Trustees with the help of lawyers via the
Federal Foundation Supervisory Authority - they failed. In a statement that was only
online for one day, Gevers reiterated his intention at the end of January to resign as
soon as "things are done in the Foundation". He is currently acting as president.

The Tezos debacle led to more Gevers critics came to the public. For example, the two
libertarian activists Patri Friedman, grandson of Nobel Prize winner Milton
Friedman, and James Hogan, ex-vice president of Paypal. The duo launched a project
in 2011 in Honduras of a futuristic, libertarian city. As head of finance, they hired
Johann Gevers. Friedman says Gevers made a good impression first, but then did his
job unreliably: "We ended up dismissing him." The reason was that Gevers had not
issued an access token to the project's bank account - and thus control over had the
money.

Inventor was another

Several Zug Crypto Valley exponents refused interviews on Johann Gevers. In

background discussions many doubted his managerial qualities, but at the same time
praised his marketing instinct. One programmer said: Actually, a young Romanian
crypto enthusiast invented the "Crypto Valley" brand - Mihai Alisie, co-founder of the

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Ethereum platform. Alisie spontaneously threw in the two words at a meeting with
Zug economic promoters in 2014 in the round. Gevers liked the idea - and started to
promote it.

On request, Gevers writes that Crypto Valley is a "success story" based on tireless
work. By now, hundreds of start-ups have settled in Zug. He did not want to
comment on Tezos. At present, the Board of Trustees is working hard to reorganize
the foundation.

He had never given up on Monetas either. Investors from New York had pledged new
funds, he was now building a new development team.

It is true that on January 25, 2018, a court in Zug overturned bankruptcy. "Phoenix
rises from the ashes," Gevers wrote in his recent investor update, he sees a "bright
future" for the company, which was just bankrupt: "Onward and upward!" (Tages-
Anzeiger)

Created: 16.02.2018, 06:22 clock

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