Nigel Farage has taken a stake in Stack BTC, a small London-listed company that plans to build a portfolio of British businesses alongside a Bitcoin treasury, in a £260,000 fundraising that also brought in cryptocurrency firm Blockchain.com as a strategic investor.
Stack is chaired by Kwasi Kwarteng, the former chancellor whose mini-budget in September 2022 triggered a brief but severe market crisis, and whose tenure at the Treasury lasted just 38 days.
The Reform UK leader has acquired a 6.31% stake in Stack through his vehicle Thorn In The Side Ltd, paying 5p per share for 4.3 million shares in a raise that values the company at around £3.4 million.
Blockchain.com, one of the oldest names in crypto and best known for its widely used Bitcoin wallet and blockchain explorer, registered with the Financial Conduct Authority earlier this year as a crypto asset business. Slack said Blockchain will work with it on developing a Bitcoin treasury strategy.
Farage said: "I have long been one of the UK's few political advocates for Bitcoin, recognising the role digital currencies will play in the future of business and finance.
"London and the UK has historically been the centre of world's financial markets, and I believe that we can and should be a major global hub for the crypto industry."
He said he is "excited about Stack's plans to acquire and grow British businesses, representing permanent, supportive and long-term capital".
Stack's shares are traded on the Aquis Growth Market, with the new shares due to be admitted on 12 March. The company was previously called Stackbitcointreasury Plc and before that Kasei Digital Assets and Kasei Holdings.