RealUnit app: paying requires selling shares
The company advertises wealth protection and now allows payments via app. Shareholders still carry price risks, selling costs and responsibility for their wallet.
RealUnit is expanding the use of its share tokens: since 29 October 2026, holders have been able to pay at checkouts that support Open CryptoPay using the company's app, according to the investment company. Shares are sold to do so, however. In the end, the merchant receives Swiss francs in its bank account. The new function therefore does not turn a fluctuating investment into a balance with a guaranteed value.
That is also relevant to the company's wealth-protection advertising. A piece published on 27 October in «Weltwoche Corporate» praises real assets and bank-independent custody. It is explicitly labelled as advertising and contains a call to buy. The statements about long-term security should therefore be read as sales arguments, not as independent evidence of a crisis-proof retirement provision.
At the checkout, the amount is rounded up to whole shares
According to RealUnit, the payment function requires an identified wallet holding share tokens. After scanning the checkout QR code, the user sells the required tokens to the company at the current price. Settlement runs via Frankencoin, a stablecoin denominated in Swiss francs. A stablecoin is a digital asset whose value is meant to be pegged to a reference unit.
RealUnit points to a specific limitation: because only whole shares are sold, the amount is rounded up to the next whole share. The difference is not credited. Fees for the payment function come on top. So for a purchase, not only the marked price of the goods matters, but also how many shares actually leave the wallet.
To the company's own knowledge, the function is a world first. It does not present an independently verified global ranking to that effect. For practical use, what matters more is whether the checkout in question supports the standard and what costs the settlement shows.
The wallet holds shares in the company
According to the company's FAQ, the share tokens are registered shares held as ledger-based securities on the Ethereum blockchain. According to RealUnit, they convey the same shareholder rights as conventional shares. Anyone holding a token thus holds a stake in the company. They do not directly receive a specific gold bar from its holdings.
FINMA distinguishes such investment tokens from payment tokens and utility tokens. What counts is their economic function, for instance a membership right in a company. The technical form alone therefore says nothing about what a buyer owns or what risk they take on.
For supervisory purposes, according to general FINMA information, what counts is the business model including its risks, not merely the technology used. Among other things, the authority advises investors to examine the rights acquired and the possibility of a later sale. This general classification is not an assessment or recommendation of the specific RealUnit offering.
Even a real-asset portfolio can post losses
RealUnit itself reported a loss before tax of 3.71 million Swiss francs for the first half of 2026 on 3 September. Net asset value per share stood at 1.27 francs at the end of June, and reported half-year performance was minus 5.9 percent. The company named book losses on gold and silver as the main reason.
At the same time, the company held to its long-term strategy and pointed to a liquidity buffer and the absence of long-term debt. The half-year result is neither a forecast for the full year nor a current price quotation for November. But its own figures show that the claim of preserving wealth does not rule out temporary losses.
Moreover, the share price and the net asset value can diverge. The net asset value describes the calculated assets per share; the market price also depends on supply and demand. Selling a stake at the desired time and price is therefore a different question from its displayed holding value.
Self-custody shifts responsibility
According to the current FAQ, holding your own wallet saves custody fees; however, a direct sale via the RealUnit app incurs a fee of one percent. Free storage therefore does not mean that all transactions are free of charge. The announced payment function is also described as subject to a fee.
If access is lost, RealUnit names a recovery procedure with a security deposit and a 180-day waiting period; alternatively, a court declaration of invalidity may be considered. The company cannot retrieve the personal recovery words. Self-custody therefore requires your own arrangements for access and inheritance.
At the next purchase, the calculation stays concrete: what counts is the selling price, the number of shares rounded up and the fees. Anyone paying this way does not merely use their stake as a means of payment; they reduce it by the shares sold with every payment.
Sources
- RealUnit: announcement of the payment function, 29 October 2026
- RealUnit: FAQ on shareholder rights, wallet, fees and recovery
- RealUnit: 2026 half-year results, release of 3 September
- FINMA: token categories by their economic function
- FINMA: questions on fintech offerings and investor rights
- Weltwoche Corporate: the original article, labelled as advertising
- Cover image: Stevebidmead, gold bars, Wikimedia Commons
- Article image: Ethereum Foundation, public-domain logo, Wikimedia Commons
- Cover image licence: CC0 1.0
