EP #290 - Benedikt Schuppli: Making Blockchain Work for the Real Economy

Benedikt Schuppli is the co-founder and co-CEO of Obligate, a blockchain company and the hub for tokenized debt. He studied law at the University of Zürich and always had a knack for the way financial markets work. After law school, he worked at a private bank, and in 2016 (right around the time when Benedikt took his bar exam) Switzerland started to become a hub for FinTech, which allowed Benedikt to see a completely new side of the Swiss financial market. He then began getting into blockchain from a legal perspective and joined Lykke Corp, his first job in the blockchain crypto space.

Benedikt comes from an entrepreneurial family: both his father and brothers built their own businesses because there was a strong urge in all of them to challenge the status quo and do things their way. After working as a lawyer for a few years, Benedikt himself felt compelled to get more involved in business decisions and launch his own company.

In 2019, he founded FQX. Along with his co-founders, he shared a vision to build a platform and infrastructure for tokenized debt assets that are recognized as legal assets. FQX is a blockchain startup that uses eNotes to enable companies to issue debt securities via the blockchain directly to investors, changing the way companies secure funding.

In this episode, he talks more about his experience launching a blockchain company in Switzerland. He also goes into more detail about the e-Note concept and discusses the difficulties he encountered while attempting to obtain funding for his blockchain start-up.

Memorable Quotes:

“I think the financial market is one of the most complex things humans have created.”

“Throwing a bunch of very smart people in a room doesn’t guarantee you’re going to build a great product.”

If you would like to listen to another founder in the blockchain market, check out our conversation with Robert Lauko.

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