Smarter Web to become UK's first BTC firm to issue preferred shares

The UK’s largest listed Bitcoin treasury holder, The Smarter Web Company (LON: SWC), announced plans this Friday to launch a new class of preferred shares, the first of its kind by a British corporate Bitcoin holder, on the main London Stock Exchange. 

The preferred share, “MORE,” will be listed with a nominal value of £0.001 each and plans to raise between £15 million and £25 million in gross proceeds, while offering what the Bristol-based company described as a “cumulative variable rate weekly preferential dividend,” plus a liquidation preference and a company option to redeem. 

The plan appears to have landed well among investors, as the company’s SWC stock gained over 15% on the day.

What Smarter Web’s MORE preferred share offers?

The MORE preferred share does not confer general meeting voting rights to holders. It is simply a fixed-income-style claim, allowing holders to gain exposure to a Bitcoin balance sheet without actually buying the coin or the firm’s common stock.

Sweden’s Bitcoin Treasury Capital listed Europe’s first Bitcoin-backed preferred in July, paying monthly installments on a flat 10% annual dividend. 

Smarter Web’s version will list in the UK in the non-voting category of the FCA’s Official List. 

Smarter Web directors named four routes to raise the funds to cover dividend payments: 

• Operating cash flow
• Cash reserves
• Bitcoin treasury
• Future sales of ordinary or preferred stock

The company is also counting on selling more preferred shares over time via the at-the-market facility managed by Tennyson Capital Partners.

How is Smarter Web handling its Bitcoin reserve now?

When Smarter Web sold 177.89 BTC to repay an $11.7 million convertible instrument to the TOBAM Group, CEO Andrew Webley said the company was reviewing its position on whether fiat and Bitcoin-denominated convertibles are “the right capital solution.” Notably, Webley left the door open to their benefits. 

However, the two-week early repayment halted a potential issuance of more than 7.7 million ordinary shares.

Smarter Web is now moving forward with a long-term capital source that directors are planning to use to fund revenue-generating web businesses acquisitions, general working capital, and to continue to build its Bitcoin treasury.

Smarter Web held 2,747 BTC as of early September, ranking 29th among public corporate holders, after adding 35 coins in a recent update, Cryptopolitan reported. 

The FCA still needs to approve the prospectus before Smarter Web can list the MORE share. Completion is also contingent on the firm raising at least £10 million, lining up at least three registered market makers, and having at least half the preferred shares in public hands. 

Shareholders will vote on the plan at a September 28 general meeting in Bristol.

Why the timing cuts both ways

The raise arrives during a reshuffle in the treasury sector. Some UK peers are retreating: Satsuma Technology’s shareholders voted by more than 90% in July to sell their 668 BTC and delist, returning far less than the £163.6 million investors put in, according to Cryptopolitan. 

The Financial Times reported that Bitcoin treasury companies had lost more than $80 billion in market value from their 2025 peak.

Against that backdrop, Smarter Web is trying to widen its funding options rather than shrink. Whether the MORE listing clears its conditions, and how investors price a weekly variable dividend backed by a volatile asset, will be the test.

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