Mode adopts Bitcoin as treasury reserve asset

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

21 October 2020

Mode Global Holdings PLC 

Mode adopts Bitcoin as treasury reserve asset

Highlights

·    Mode is the first UK publicly traded company to announce a significant purchase of Bitcoin as part of its treasury investment strategy

·    The allocation is part of a long-term strategy to protect investors' assets from currency debasement

·    This follows the successful completion of Mode's IPO and oversubscribed placing earlier this month

Mode Global Holdings PLC ("LSE:MODE"), the LSE-listed Fintech Group, announced today that it has allocated up to ten percent (10%) of its cash reserves to purchase Bitcoin and adopt it as a treasury reserve asset. The move is part of Mode's long-term goal to protect investors' assets from currency debasement. With UK interest rates at a record low of 0.1%, Mode is also seeking to diversify away from low-interest money market instruments in order to maximise the value of returns from its recent fundraising.  

Mode is the first publicly listed company in the UK to officially announce a significant purchase of Bitcoin as part of its treasury investment strategy. This follows announcements by Square Inc. and Microstrategy Inc. which disclosed significant purchases of an aggregate value of $475m worth of Bitcoin.

Since inception, Mode has recognised the potential of Bitcoin as a reliable store of value and an attractive investment due to the asset's asymmetric risk/reward attributes and safe haven status. As one of the first companies with a consumer-facing Bitcoin offering to list on the LSE Main Market, Mode's mission is to bring further transparency and credibility to the digital asset space and offer everyday investors the opportunity to buy shares in an early-stage fintech building next-generation products.

To support its vision, Mode has built an easy-to-use mobile application that allows people to easily buy, sell and hold Bitcoin and grow their holdings via one of the highest-yielding and most flexible interest-generating Bitcoin products in the market. Mode's consumer products enable everyday investors to access the benefits of Bitcoin in a secure and seamless way.

Jonathan Rowland, Executive Chairman at Mode, commented: "This decision to allocate part of our cash reserves to Bitcoin is a further step in our mission to build a truly digital financial services business, combining the best of digital assets, payments, loyalty and investment. We truly believe that Bitcoin is a vehicle for financial empowerment and, through Mode, investors can gain exposure to this highly attractive asset class through a listed and fully compliant company. 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."