Mode, a London listed financial services company, has announced that it has purchased bitcoins of around £750,000 from its cash reserves, Forbes reports.
The publication noted that it is now the first public company in the UK with BTC on its balance sheet.
The decision to purchase the cryptographic material Bitcoin Storm from the firm was made about 10 days ago, explained Mode’s founder and CEO, Jonathan Rowland.
This move followed a $50 million transfer of equity capital to Bitcoin by the payment company Square of Jack Dorsey.
According to Rowland, investing in crypt currency is part of a long-term strategy to „protect investors‘ assets from currency devaluation“. The firm intends to convert 10% of its reserves into BTC.
Custodians of the company’s digital assets are BitGo and Coinbase Custody services.
Mode positions itself as a provider of a „bank bitcoin application“ for the iPhone. The company has over 25,000 users.
Following the announcement of the purchase, Mode’s shares went up by approximately 10% in line with the BTC price increase.
Rowland expressed his hope for a similar correlation in the future. He noted that the firm has now expanded its ability for investors to own Bitcoin through BTC shares without having to buy and store digital currency.
Recall that such indirect owners of assets in the first crypt currency became, for example, the Oil Fund of Norway and the largest investment companies BlackRock and Vanguard.
This was the result of the purchase of $425 million worth of bitcoins by MicroStrategy, a provider of analytical software, quoted on Nasdaq.