Where Did Elitium Come From? And What Problems Does It Solve?

In 2017, Elitium CEO Raoul was working as Managing Partner of Boatsters – a digitally driven superyacht sales & charter company offering tailored yachting experiences across the world. Raoul and his team were discussing cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise, having seen several newly-minted crypto-wealthy become Boatsters clients.

After a little research, something caught the team’s eye.

Despite the soaring value of crypto, there was still nowhere to spend these so-called currencies. Inspiration struck.

Raoul called a contact who had been working with blockchain technology for years. One meeting later, Raoul and soon-to-be-Elitium co-founder Jean-Pierre embarked on building a peer-to-peer payment system to let clients pay for a charter in one of fifty-five cryptocurrencies.

The solution created waves. It quickly became clear there was an appetite for innovative technical solutions across the luxury sector.

One conversation later, Elitium was born.

Expanding The Scope

With partners asking to license the crypto-solution for use in private jet charters, art deals, even top-end security services, Raoul and JP could see how blockchain technology appealed to more than just cryptocurrency ‘hodlers.’

Businesses wanted solutions too.

And so, the crypto-payment system evolved into a fully-fledged concept: to use the blockchain, digital currency, and smart contracts to enhance premium experiences on a global scale.

After all, businesses  across the luxury industry deal with high-volume transactions that incur hefty fees. And there’s a significant level of trust and security required throughout the sector — not just when paying for a yacht charter.

Questions around cost, trust, and security often arise in luxury. These are the precise concerns that the blockchain aims to resolve. As the duo explored solutions, they realized the blockchain could improve how both people and businesses interact with money.

Three Problems Solved By Elitium

Elitium’s early focus was on giving a high-net-worth clientele an enhanced layer of payment protection. Raoul and JP built the first crypto-backed insurance protocol, which to this day, protects users’ funds from fraudulent transactions (you can see the EUM-i blockchain here).

Since this early innovation, the blockchain has become the cornerstone Elitium has used to solve the following three problems:

1. Inefficient Processes

Chartering yachts, chartering private jets, and buying artwork are manual, slow, and unnecessarily costly processes.

Thanks to configurable smart contracts powered by EUM, Elitium can eliminate inefficiencies by getting the blockchain to automate aspects like identity checks, money transfers, and contract execution.

2. Financial Transaction Insecurity

Financial transactions in the luxury sector involve vast sums of money and require a high level of trust (the client has to trust a broker to conclude the deal and a bank to transfer the funds).

Elitium’s unified platform lets any luxury brand offer unique experiences, products, and services using a currency that’s borderless, secure, fast, and inexpensive — when backed by smart contracts, brands can eliminate the need for trust via a transparent agreement hosted on the blockchain.

3. Endemic Financial Inequality

Low-interest rates are the ‘new normal’ in the 21st century. The most attractive opportunities feel out of reach to most. The Coronavirus pandemic has threatened a point-of-no-return in terms of inequality.

How can a platform like Elitium help? The team has devised a FinTech offering to level the playing field, creating:

• A crypto card concept that lets cardholders spend digital currency anywhere in the world and earn cashback
• A staking program that gives users up to 6.5% rewards for supporting the network
• An AI-enabled executive assistant to help people manage their finances
• An investment platform that lets its users invest in a valuable new asset class.

What’s next? The future revolves around three guiding principles.

Independence. Value. Growth.

Today, Elitium is focused on using its blockchain-based Digital Economy not only to solve these three problems but also to disrupt the status quo — in luxury as much as in how the world interacts with money.

As yes, Elitium’s origins are in luxury.

But the team is working towards so much more than just a luxury offering. We are creating premium-quality products for everyone to use, not for exclusive use within a particular setting.

And we want to help our users find freedom from a world constrained by authority; independence from any third party or centralized institution. 

We exist to serve people who refuse to let others dictate how they live. We are here to help anyone live life on their own terms.

If it’s independence, value, and growth you crave, Elitium has just the solution.

Discover Value. Discover Elitium.