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Niklas Nikolajsen fulfills his boy’s dreams: tanks and a historic property. On the trail of an extravagance.
Niklas Nikolajsen has created a monument for himself on Lake Zug. He bought the listed St. Karlshof in poor condition and extensively converted it.
Legend:
Niklas Nikolajsen has breathed new life into the baroque property – for 70 million francs.
SRF / Harry Stitzel
Nikolajsen leads a tour of his pompous home, spruced up in English Art Nouveau style. Only the finest materials were good enough. This cost him around 70 million francs.
The luxurious home of Niklas Nikolajsen
“I’m glad we did it, even if it was 70 percent more expensive than planned,” says Nikolajsen. He makes parts of the farm accessible to the public, including the associated chapel, which has not yet been completely restored due to objections from the monument preservation authority.
The 48-year-old software engineer from Denmark can finance the project because he bet on Bitcoin early on. He built the first crypto trading company, Bitcoin Suisse, in Zug and made a fortune with it.
Legend:
Swiss Bitcoin pioneer
Nikolajsen set up the company Bitcoin Suisse in Zug from 2013. It made him rich. He has since left the company.
Bitcoin Suisse / 2014
The balance sheet estimates his assets at 250 million francs. Nikolajsen has since left the company but remains a shareholder.
Tanks – probably his most controversial hobby
Niklas Nikolajsen deals intensively with Swiss history and celebrates the fact that Alberich Zwyssig wrote the Swiss Psalm – today’s national anthem – at Karlshof in 1841.
Legend:
Nikolajsen explains his fascination with tanks as follows: A boy’s dream and his fascination with military technology
SRF / Harry Stitzel
He is also fascinated by military history and technology, which is why he justified the purchase of a US tank from the Second World War. He doesn’t want to glorify the war, but to remind people how bad history can be so that it doesn’t repeat itself. And he also admits: Buying a tank was also the “fulfillment of a child’s dream.”
Legend:
Nikolajsen loves vintage cars. He gave this Jaguar to his wife Anne Catherine. He can’t drive himself.
SRF / Harry Stitzel
When he meets the Bitcoin millionaire in Copenhagen, he throws money out the window. Symbolic of his life? He says no. A PR campaign for the bar opening of a childhood friend. He had promised him that he would finance a restaurant if he ever had a lot of money.
Nikolajsen enjoys the attention and is proud of his success story. But he is also a skilled self-marketer. Anyone who buys Bitcoin and is unconventional can become as rich as he is, he seems to want to demonstrate with such actions.
Legend:
A promotion for a childhood friend’s bar opening. He financed the bar – a youth bet: whoever has money first pays.
SRF / Harry Stitzel
He also spends some of his money unselfishly. He donates to the city of Zug’s charity project and the Liberal Institute. The latter reveals his anti-state stance, which is widespread among crypto supporters.
But he is not an ultra-liberal. He enjoys much more freedom in Switzerland compared to Denmark. This probably also includes the fact that his former company is located in the business-friendly tax haven of Zug.
Living on too big a foot?
Local media recently reported that Nikolajsen wanted to sell his new home again and speculated that he had overextended himself financially.
Nikolajsen denies it. He may have invested too much of his fortune in Karlshof: “That’s how it is with pet projects, you often invest more than you should. But we still have food on the table.”
Legend:
Dagobert is tough but honest – like himself: Niklas Nikolajsen in front of his favorite picture and his 5 kg nugget of gold.
SRF / Harry Stitzel
The fact is that he wants to sell three apartments in the property. But he and his family are staying in Karlshof, after all, he has invested a lot in it – including his heart and soul.
He still has several million in cryptocurrencies. As long as the Bitcoin price remains high, Niklas Nikolajsen’s success story will probably not end so quickly.