Mode, a UK fintech that just raised £7.5 million from a listing on the London Stock Exchange, has allocated up to ten percent of its cash reserves to purchase bitcoin and adopt it as a treasury reserve asset.
With UK interest rates at a record low of 0.1%, Mode says it is seeking to diversify away from low-interest money market instruments in order to maximise the value of returns from its recent fundraising.
Established by Jonathan Rowland, co-founder and director of UK challenger Redwood Bank, Mode is one of the first companies with a consumer-facing bitcoin offering to list on the LSE Main Market. The Mode app enables users to buy, sell and hold sterling and euro, as well as bitcoin.
The purchase of bitcoin is line with recent investments by Square and Microstrategy, which disclosed significant purchases of an aggregate value of $475m worth of the cryptocurrency.
Says Rowland: "Faced with the challenges of Covid and with UK interest rates at the lowest level in the Bank of England's 326-year history, our confidence in the long-term value of Bitcoin has only increased. Today's allocation is executed through a modern, forward-looking but prudent treasury management strategy."
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