Housers reborn as Crowpire, without returning the money

Housers reborn as Crowpire, having collected 150 million euros without returning it

How can a platform that promised 'bomb-proof' returns of 15% have spent eleven years collecting individuals' savings and still not return it?
The case of Housers, the crowdfunding proptech born in 2015, points to hundreds of investors with their liquidity frozen, promotions stalled, and developing companies disappeared or in liquidation. The company now operates under the name Crowpire.

On paper, the operation is a simple rebranding. In practice, the trail of stalled projects accumulates year after year.

Eleven years collecting savings, and 150 million euros later

Some estimates place the amount raised since 2015 at 150 million euros. The model was simple to explain and difficult to sustain: the small investor enters a specific promotion, waits for their promised return—between 10% and 15% depending on the project—and recovers their principal upon closing the operation. In real estate, nothing is guaranteed.

Some argue that this is not a classic pyramid structure, and the nuance is technical but relevant: because each investor is linked to a specific project, when one stalls, the money doesn't disappear instantly; it remains frozen. This explains why the problem has been trickling along for years instead of exploding overnight. The result for those affected is identical.

Why was the CNMV sanctioned in 2019, and why did money keep coming in?

The signs had been there for some time. According to eldiario.es, the regulator fined it 215,000 euros in 2019: two very serious sanctions for repeatedly failing to meet its information obligations to the client and for operating outside of authorization, plus one serious sanction for advertising projects that did not meet the requirements. The fine money, as is usual, is paid by the sanctioned company, not the executive, and does not return to the investor through administrative channels; that requires separate legal action.

The precedent most often cited is Gowex. The fraud was exposed not by the CNMV, but by a report from Gotham City Research dated July 1, 2014: ninety-three pages arguing that 90% of the income did not exist. The CNMV, meanwhile, was investigating Gotham for possible market manipulation. This pattern—the warning arriving late and always from outside—is repeated.

From Housers to Crowpire: changing the name and continuing

The comparison with Forum Filatélico, Nueva Rumasa, or Bosques Naturales is inevitable, though there is a fundamental difference: those collapsed within a few years, while this one drags on for over a decade.
The details of specific cases—projects with modified conditions, assets listed as unproductive, untraceable promoters—circulate in investor forums with reconstructions worth reading one by one.

The pattern goes beyond property. Other crowdfunding platforms in sectors like energy have left thousands of savers with their money stuck during the same period.

Eleven years dragging on, and business continued to be good. For those who were getting paid, of course.