Can Bitcoin Supercharge a Small Luxury Brand?
A Treasury Strategy Case Study with ASMALLWORLD AG
13/7/25
What if a small, publicly traded Swiss company adopted Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset? What would happen to its balance sheet, its brand, and its shareholder base?
Let’s run a real-world scenario using ASMALLWORLD AG (ASWN), a Zurich-based social network and travel platform for the global luxury class, to explore what a Bitcoin strategy could unlock, and why this model could work for other small-cap companies too.
The Setup: A Unique Positioning
ASMALLWORLD (SIX: ASWN) isn’t your typical tech stock. It blends travel, membership perks, curated events, and a high-end hospitality ecosystem - all designed for globally mobile, affluent individuals.
This exact customer base overlaps heavily with another rising trend: Bitcoin adoption among high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). Bitcoin is increasingly seen not as a fringe bet, but as a long-term store of value - an emerging digital reserve asset.
Which raises the question: what if ASMALLWORLD allocated just a small part of its financial strategy toward Bitcoin?
Replacing Debt Paydown with Bitcoin
ASMALLWORLD used recent cash flows to reduce debt by CHF 1 million per year in both 2023 and 2024.
But what if, instead of repaying that debt early, they had used those same funds to buy Bitcoin at the highest price of each year, and held it through 2025?
Here’s how it would have played out:
The above numbers assume ASWN deployed into Bitcoin each year at the very highest price for the year. Even when buying at the peak of the year, Bitcoin outperformed traditional debt servicing.
Now what if ASWN were to have implemented a conservative Bitcoin Treasury policy similar to Strategy Inc (MSTR) in the US, or Metaplanet in Japan (3350) with a small equity issuance (dilution) of say 10% in each of those years? Let's be conservative and assume they issued equity at the yearly share price low. The figures would have looked like this:
End of 2023: 11,718,715 shares → New shares issued: 1,171,871 @ 1.35 on 16/10/24
= CHF 1,582,025 raised, deployed into BTC @ CHF34,400
= ~ 46 BTC
End of 2024: 15,633,328 shares (assumption incl. 2023 above and other issuance undertaken) → New shares issued: 1,563,332 @ 1.24 on 2/12/24
= CHF 1,938,531 raised, deployed into BTC @ CHF95,700
= ~ 20 BTC
Taking into account the initial BTC purchased instead of repaying debt principal, and adding the BTC purchased with modest share dilution, the total BTC sitting on ASWN's balance sheet today would be ~ 106 BTC. Valued today around CHF 9.9 million.
At ASWN's theoretical newly fully diluted share count of 17,196,660 from above, at today's price of CHF 1.08, the company would have a market capitalisation of CHF 18.5 million, but also have CHF 9.9 million of BTC on it's balance sheet.
But I think it's safe to say if the company had adopted Bitcoin and had that much sitting on its balance sheet now, the share price would be substantially higher than today's CHF 1.08.
The above could all still be true for the future if ASWN adopted Bitcoin today. Management are still planning to pay down further debt this year. Would it be better spent directed to Bitcoin? What other strategic advantages are there?
🇨🇭 First-Mover Advantage in Switzerland
There are no other listed Swiss companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheet aside from ETFs which have no operational leverage or levers to pull like an operating company has. The outperformance of Bitcoin Treasury companies worldwide have already proven this. The return of Strategy Inc and Metaplanet are in the thousands of percent since each adopted Bitcoin.
There is certainly no global luxury or lifestyle brand doing so, which is ironic considering Bitcoin is a Veblen good. It is arguably the most scare and luxurious asset in the world. If every millionaire in the world wants just one Bitcoin, they can't have it.
For ASMALLWORLD, the positioning is powerful:
Align with the financial worldview of their clientele
Signal brand modernity and long-term vision
Attract Bitcoin-aligned shareholders, media, and fintech partnerships
Implementation Strategy: Start Small, Build Smart
Phase 1: Conservative Entry
Announce a strategic pivot to adopting Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.
Re-allocate funds earmarked for debt paydown in 2024.
Include the BTC holdings and statistics in financial reporting moving forward.
Phase 2: Brand Activation
Enable BTC payments for Prestige memberships
Add BTC-linked perks (e.g., tier boosts, travel credits)
Host events in partnership with Swiss Bitcoin banks and platforms
Phase 3: Scale Up (if desired)
Explore equity raises to accumulate more BTC. Aggressiveness of the strategy can depend on shareholder appetite.
Supercharge the balance sheet for the future of ASWN as a dominant leader in the Luxury Space, backed by the world's most valuable and scare asset, Bitcoin.
Final Thought: Luxury Meets Digital Reserve
ASMALLWORLD’s DNA is built on exclusivity, modernity, and global perspective. Bitcoin is the natural next layer - a signal of long-term thinking, financial innovation, and cultural fluency.
The numbers speak for themselves. But so does the narrative:
“We’re the first luxury lifestyle brand in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury asset.”
That’s the kind of positioning you can’t buy with a marketing budget. But you can earn it with conviction.
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