Anchored Coins AG is a Swiss-based financial technology company that issued fiat-collateralized stablecoins, primarily the Euro-pegged AEUR and the Swiss Franc-pegged ACHF. ^[1] Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Zug, the company operated as a regulated financial intermediary under Swiss law. ^[1] Following a major operational crisis in 2024 involving the bankruptcy of its primary banking partner and new regulatory pressures from the European Union, Anchored Coins announced it would cease issuing new tokens and begin an orderly withdrawal from the stablecoin business. ^[2]​

Overview

Anchored Coins AG was established with the objective of bridging traditional finance (TradFi) and the digital asset economy by providing compliant and transparent stablecoins. ^[3] Its core products, AEUR and ACHF, were designed as "payment tokens" under Swiss financial market regulations, each backed 1:1 by reserves of their corresponding fiat currency held in Swiss bank accounts. ^[1] The company operated as a member of the Verein zur Qualitätssicherung von Finanzdienstleistungen (VQF), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) recognized by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which subjected it to Switzerland's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) laws. ^[2]​

The project's history was marked by significant events, including a volatile market debut on the Binance exchange and a partnership with DCS Card Centre to integrate stablecoins into traditional payment systems. ^{[4] [5]} However, the company's trajectory was fundamentally altered in mid-2024. First, the bankruptcy of its primary banking partner, FlowBank SA, triggered a reserve crisis that temporarily de-pegged AEUR and halted operations. ^[4] Shortly after resolving the reserve issue, Anchored Coins announced its strategic withdrawal from issuing new stablecoins, citing the implementation of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCAR) regulation, which imposed licensing requirements the Swiss-based entity could not meet for its Euro-pegged token. ^[6]​

History

Anchored Coins AG was founded in 2022 in Zug, Switzerland, by a group of entrepreneurs with experience in financial services. ^[1] Media reports identified the venture as Singaporean-backed, with entrepreneur Calvin Cheng as its founder and public representative. ^[5] The company, previously known as Damoon Technologies, was granted membership in the VQF SRO in early 2023, formalizing its status as a regulated financial intermediary. ^[5] In August 2023, the firm raised an undisclosed amount in a venture round from digital asset trading firm GSR. ^[7]​

The company officially launched its AEUR and ACHF stablecoins in December 2023 on the Ethereum and BNB Chain networks. ^[3] On December 4, 2023, the AEUR stablecoin was listed on the Binance exchange, an event that was immediately followed by extreme price volatility. The token's price, intended to be pegged at €1.00, briefly surged over 200% against USDT. ^{[7] [4]} Binance temporarily suspended trading to stabilize the market and later announced a compensation plan for affected users. ^[4]​

The most significant challenge in the company's history occurred on June 13, 2024, when FINMA initiated bankruptcy proceedings against FlowBank SA. ^[2] As FlowBank held the EUR reserves for AEUR, its collapse froze the stablecoin's collateral, forcing Anchored Coins to halt all minting, redemption, and client onboarding activities. The news caused AEUR to lose its 1:1 peg on secondary markets. ^[8]​

In the months following the crisis, Anchored Coins announced it had successfully restructured its collateral by moving the entirety of its Euro reserves to Swissquote Bank SA, a different Swiss banking partner. ^[6] Despite restoring the 1:1 backing, the company soon faced another existential challenge. In late 2024, citing the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCAR) regulation in the EU, the company announced its decision to cease issuing new AEUR tokens and to conduct an "orderly withdrawal" from the stablecoin business. As a Swiss firm, it could not comply with MiCAR's requirement for EUR-stablecoin issuers to be licensed within an EU member state. The company stated it was developing a new, compliant structure for existing AEUR holders. ^[6]​

Leadership and Backing

Anchored Coins AG was founded and led by Singaporean entrepreneur Calvin Cheng, who served as the company's chairman and was its public face. ^{[5] [2]} Cheng, a former Nominated Member of the Parliament of Singapore, positioned the company to address demand for non-USD stablecoins operating under clear European regulatory frameworks. ^[5]In a statement about the company's launch, Cheng highlighted the strategy:

"There is a clear need for stablecoins to be pegged to currencies other than the United States dollar, given the regulatory uncertainty in the US. This is the right time and right place to launch highly compliant stablecoins in two other well-regarded global currencies – the Swiss franc and the euro.” ^[5]

Other co-founders listed in company materials included Sven Wenzel and Michel Degen. ^[7] The project also attracted institutional investors, including DWF Labs, GSR, and the Singaporean venture capital firm Plutus.vc. ^{[3] [8]}​

Products and Technology

Anchored Coins developed two fiat-collateralized stablecoins. The company's technology relied on a standard asset-backed model where tokens were minted against fiat deposits and burned upon redemption. ^[1]​

Anchored Coins EUR (AEUR)

AEUR is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Euro (EUR). It was designed to provide a stable, Euro-denominated digital asset for trading, remittances, and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. ^[2] Following the company's strategic pivot, no new AEUR tokens are being issued. ^[6] AEUR was issued as a native token on multiple blockchains:

• Ethereum (ERC-20)
• BNB Chain (BEP-20) ^[1]

Anchored Coins CHF (ACHF)

ACHF is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Swiss Franc (CHF). It was created to offer a digital "safe-haven" asset leveraging the stability of the Swiss Franc within the crypto ecosystem. ^[7] Like AEUR, its issuance is tied to the company's withdrawal from the stablecoin market. ACHF was issued on Ethereum and BNB Chain. ^[1]​

Smart Contracts

The smart contracts for AEUR and ACHF were audited by the blockchain security firm PeckShield. ^[1] The contracts included several administrative functions designed to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory orders:

• Minting and Burning: Standard functions for creating new tokens against fiat deposits and destroying tokens upon redemption.
• Pause/Unpause: A function to halt all token transfers in exceptional situations, such as a major security vulnerability or a binding court order.
• Freeze/Unfreeze: A function allowing the company to block transfers from a specific address, intended for use only when compelled by a competent authority. ^[1]

The contract address for AEUR on both Ethereum and BNB Chain is 0xA40640458FBc27b6EefEdeA1E9C9E17d4ceE7a21. ^[3]​

Issuance and Redemption

The minting and redemption processes were primarily designed for pre-approved institutional and corporate clients who completed a full Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and due diligence process. ^[6]​

• Issuance: Approved clients could deposit EUR or CHF into Anchored Coins' bank account, after which the company would mint and transfer an equivalent amount of AEUR or ACHF to the client's wallet.
• Redemption: Direct redemption was available to token holders, but after the FlowBank crisis, the minimum redemption amount was set at €250,000 for AEUR. The process required the redeemer to hold a fiat bank account in their own name to receive the funds. Holders with smaller amounts were directed to use secondary markets like cryptocurrency exchanges. ^[2]

Reserve and Guarantee Mechanism

Anchored Coins employed a two-layer backing structure intended to secure its stablecoins and protect token holders. ^[1]​

Primary Backing: Fiat Reserves

The foundation of the stablecoins' value was the 1:1 backing by fiat currency. For every AEUR or ACHF token in circulation, an equivalent amount of EUR or CHF was held in dedicated, segregated reserve accounts at regulated Swiss banks. ^[1] The company engaged Prescient Assurance LLC, an independent auditor, to perform regular attestations to verify that the value of the reserves matched the circulating supply of tokens. ^[8] Initially, the primary banking partners for these reserves were FlowBank SA and Swissquote Bank SA. After FlowBank's collapse, the AEUR reserves were consolidated at Swissquote. ^[6]​

Secondary Backing: Bank Default Guarantee

A unique feature of Anchored Coins' structure was a default guarantee provided by its partner banks. This mechanism was designed to provide recourse to token holders specifically in the event of the issuer's (Anchored Coins AG) bankruptcy, not the bank's. ^[1]​

• Trigger Event: The guarantee could only be claimed if Swiss authorities opened irrevocable bankruptcy proceedings against Anchored Coins AG.
• Claim Process: Eligible token holders would have 360 days from the bankruptcy announcement to submit a "Payment Request" to the guaranteeing bank. This required the holder to pass KYC/AML checks, prove control of the tokens, and send the tokens to a specified burn address. The bank would then be obligated to pay the holder 1 EUR per AEUR (or 1 CHF per ACHF).
• Key Limitation: The guarantee was explicitly for the default of Anchored Coins, not the default of a custodial bank holding the reserves. The failure of FlowBank highlighted this distinction, as the guarantee did not cover losses stemming from the bank's own bankruptcy. The whitepaper itself noted this risk, stating, "...such guarantee may be held to be invalid or the guaranteeing bank itself may not have sufficient funds for repayment." ^[1]

Challenges and Controversies

FlowBank Bankruptcy and Reserve Crisis

The most severe crisis for Anchored Coins began on June 13, 2024, when FINMA ordered the liquidation of FlowBank SA for failing to meet capital requirements. ^[4] Since FlowBank was the custodian for a significant portion of the AEUR reserves, its collapse had immediate and severe consequences:

• Reserve Inaccessibility: The fiat reserves held at FlowBank were frozen as part of the bank's bankruptcy estate, making them inaccessible to Anchored Coins and calling the 1:1 backing of AEUR into question.
• Operational Halt: Anchored Coins suspended all minting, redemption, and onboarding activities for its stablecoins. ^[4]
• Market De-Peg: The uncertainty led to a crisis of confidence, causing AEUR to de-peg from the Euro on exchanges and drop to a low of approximately $0.80. ^[8]

Anchored Coins publicly warned token holders about the potential for losses, stating, "a risk remains that in case of a shortfall, the 1:1 redeemability cannot be upheld which would lead to a respective loss for the holders of AEUR tokens." ^[4] The company ultimately resolved the crisis by negotiating with Swiss authorities to move the reserves to Swissquote Bank SA, successfully re-collateralizing the entire circulating supply of AEUR. ^[6]​

Strategic Withdrawal due to MiCAR

Following the resolution of the FlowBank crisis, Anchored Coins faced a major regulatory hurdle with the implementation of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCAR) regulation. The regulation mandates that issuers of EUR-denominated stablecoins (classified as e-money tokens) must be licensed as a credit institution or an electronic money institution (EMI) within an EU member state. As a Swiss-based company, Anchored Coins AG did not meet this criteria. This led to the company's announcement that it would "not issue new AEUR tokens" and would "withdraw from the stablecoin business and the Swiss market in an orderly manner." ^[6]​

Binance Listing Anomaly

On December 4-6, 2023, just after its launch, AEUR experienced a "flash crash" in reverse. Its price on Binance unexpectedly surged, reaching highs between 3.25, a significant deviation for a stablecoin. ^{[3] [4]} Binance suspended trading to quell the volatility and later attributed the event to traders who may not have understood that AEUR was a stablecoin. ^[4]​

Novel Legal Framework

The company's own whitepaper acknowledged the inherent risks in its legal structure. It included a disclaimer warning potential users:

"Kindly note that while we are confident that this legal set up is in line with Swiss law, it is novel and not proven in court. Thus, there is a certain legal risk that the Swiss judicial and/or supervisory praxis may change and relevant sections of the applicable laws may be interpreted differently as current legal praxis does." ^[1]