The Smarter Web Company has cleared the shareholder hurdle standing between it and one of the more unusual capital-markets experiments in the Bitcoin treasury space. At a general meeting on Sept. 28, investors approved all three resolutions required to create the company’s proposed MORE perpetual preferred shares, keeping a potential London Stock Exchange Main Market listing of the securities on track.
The vote matters because it hands the board the formal authorities it asked for before proceeding with a possible initial public offering of MORE, a new share class designed to sit alongside the company’s Bitcoin-heavy balance sheet. The offering itself has not launched. It remains conditional on several requirements, most notably approval of a prospectus by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
A Near-Unanimous Vote
The results, published through the London Stock Exchange’s regulatory news service, showed overwhelming support. Resolution 1, which amended the company’s articles of association to accommodate the new share class, received roughly 163.8 million votes in favor, about 99.86 percent of votes cast, with 231,386 votes, or 0.14 percent, against.
The second resolution, granting directors authority to allot the preferred shares, passed with 99.84 percent support. The third, permitting the company to make market purchases of the securities, passed with 99.86 percent. The amended articles took effect immediately after the meeting, at which point the company had 375.59 million ordinary shares in issue carrying the same number of voting rights.
What MORE Actually Is
The structure was first laid out in a Sept. 11 intention-to-float announcement. MORE would be a perpetual preferred share admitted to the non-equity shares and non-voting equity shares category of the Official List. The company is targeting between 15 million and 25 million pounds in gross proceeds, offered to institutional investors in the UK and to eligible UK retail investors through participating brokers, wealth managers and investment platforms.
The conditions are specific. A minimum of 10 million pounds must be raised for the IPO to proceed. At least three firms must be registered as market makers in the securities at admission, and a minimum of 50 percent of the preferred shares must be held in public hands. If any of those thresholds are missed, the offering does not happen.
Holders of MORE would receive a cumulative variable-rate preferential dividend paid weekly, a liquidation preference, and the knowledge that the company retains the right to redeem the shares. What they would not receive is a vote at general meetings. The company has pointed to recurring operating cash flows, cash reserves, its Bitcoin treasury and continued access to public capital markets as the pools from which dividend obligations would be met.
A Sterling Answer to Strategy’s Playbook
The design invites comparison with the preferred-stock architecture that Strategy has built in the United States, where instruments such as STRK, STRF, STRD and STRC are layered over an expanding Bitcoin treasury. But The Smarter Web Company is charting its own path in one important respect. Chief Executive Andrew Webley said at the time of the announcement that, subject to the required approvals and completion of the offering, the company expects MORE to be the first sterling-denominated perpetual preferred share listed on the LSE Main Market by a UK-incorporated commercial company pursuing a Bitcoin treasury strategy.
The proposed preferred shares are designed, in Webley’s words, to provide an additional source of long-term capital, broaden the range of investors able to invest in the company, and further diversify its capital structure.
Wall Street has already taken note of the direction. Earlier in September, analysts at TD Cowen led by Lance Vitanza raised their price target on the company to 0.73 pounds from 0.64 pounds while maintaining a Buy rating, arguing that preferred equity could provide another source of long-term capital alongside the financing options already available to the company.
Why It Matters for Bitcoin Markets
For Bitcoin holders, the significance is less about the size of the raise, which is modest by crypto-treasury standards, and more about the template. A weekly-dividend preferred share backed partly by a Bitcoin treasury, listed on a mainstream exchange and available to ordinary UK retail investors through conventional platforms, would be a genuine first for the European market. It extends the range of regulated instruments through which savers can obtain exposure to corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies without buying the underlying asset or the company’s ordinary shares.
There are caveats. Final terms have not been set, and the company has said details of the securities and the arrangements for the retail offering would come through a confirmation of intention to float or the prospectus if the transaction proceeds. The FCA prospectus approval process is itself a gate that has delayed or derailed other crypto-linked listings.
Still, with shareholder approval secured at near-unanimous margins, the path from proposal to listing has narrowed to regulatory sign-off and market conditions. The next signal investors should watch is the prospectus confirmation, which would set the dividend terms, the offer size and the admission timetable.
Market backdrop: At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades near 84,327 USD, up 1.57 percent over the last 24 hours, while Ethereum changes hands around 2,731 USD, up 2.46 percent, and Solana sits near 120.10 USD, up 1.21 percent. The Fear and Greed Index stands at 73, in Greed territory.
163.8 million votes in favor and basically a rounding error against. wonder how many of those holders actually read the risk section on the Bitcoin treasury before voting
^ most of that bloc is the board and early insiders anyway. 99.86 percent tells you nothing about retail sentiment
turnout math says otherwise. 231,386 votes against on resolution 1 is basically nobody showing up to object. retail apathy reads the same as insider bloc when the against column is that thin
99.86 percent in favor, 163.8 million votes. Disciplined shareholder base. The FCA prospectus is the real gate now, not the vote.
all those yes votes and the thing still cant list until the fca signs off on the prospectus. slow mo lol
the FCA is the actual gate on this one. prospectus review for a novel instrument backed by a BTC balance sheet will draw questions on valuation and custody disclosure. 12 weeks minimum imo
A Bitcoin backed preferred listed on the LSE Main Market. Ten years ago this was a forum fantasy thread. Now it just needs the FCA to sign off, wild
still conditional on FCA prospectus approval though. plenty of UK listings stall exactly there, would not call this a done deal
Perpetual preferred on top of a Bitcoin treasury is basically a coupon dressed as equity. Resolution 2 giving directors allotment authority at 99.84 percent means they can issue more later without asking again. watch the dilution math on the 375.59 million shares.
A Bitcoin-backed perpetual preferred on the LSE Main Market. If MORE prices well, expect every treasury company to copy this structure within a year.