Daily News 19

Tag: London Stock Exchange

  • TD Cowen Sees 90% Upside for Smarter Web as Preferred Share Plan Advances

    TD Cowen Sees 90% Upside for Smarter Web as Preferred Share Plan Advances

    TD Cowen has raised its price target for The Smarter Web Company to £0.73 ($0.99) from £0.64 ($0.87) while maintaining a Buy rating, following the Bitcoin treasury firm’s proposal for a new perpetual preferred-share offering.

    In a Monday note to clients, analysts led by Lance Vitanza said the planned MORE preferred shares could provide another source of long-term capital and expand financing options for the London-listed company. Shares traded at £0.385 ($0.52) on Monday, up 1.32% from Friday’s close of £0.38 ($0.51), according to London Stock Exchange data. The revised target implies roughly 90% upside from Monday’s trading level.

    The increase partially reverses TD Cowen’s July adjustment, when the investment bank lowered its target from £1 to £0.64 after updating Bitcoin forecasts and treasury assumptions.

    Preferred Shares to Expand Capital Options

    The revised valuation follows Smarter Web’s September 11 announcement that it is considering an initial public offering of a new class of perpetual preferred shares under the reserved ticker MORE. TD Cowen said the proposed structure could give the company another route to raise long-duration capital alongside existing financing tools for its Bitcoin treasury operation.

    “More broadly, we view the initiative as evidence of increasing sophistication across the bitcoin treasury ecosystem as issuers explore preferred equity, secured credit facilities, convertible securities, and other forms of structured capital,” the analysts wrote.

    Smarter Web plans to raise between £15 million and £25 million in gross proceeds through the potential offering, with a minimum £10 million fundraising condition. Admission depends on shareholder approval and Financial Conduct Authority approval of a prospectus. The preferred shares are expected to carry a cumulative variable-rate preferential dividend paid weekly, include a liquidation preference, and grant the company redemption rights. MORE shares would not carry voting rights at general meetings. A general meeting is scheduled for September 28 for ordinary shareholders to vote on changes needed to create the new preferred-share class. If conditions are met, the securities are intended for admission to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

    The proposal follows other Bitcoin treasury companies using preferred securities to raise capital. Strategy has built several preferred-stock products around its Bitcoin financing model, while Strive has used preferred equity as part of its treasury funding structure. Strategy’s STRC preferred stock was listed by Binance in July after the company expanded its use of the security for funding and dividend-related capital management. Bitfinex Securities later listed tokenized treasury products linked to several public Bitcoin holders, including a product providing economic exposure to Strategy’s STRC preferred shares.

    Bitcoin Treasury Performance and Recent Activity

    TD Cowen’s revised target came as analysts assessed Smarter Web’s Bitcoin treasury performance following a financing repayment that temporarily reduced its holdings. The company reported a Bitcoin Yield of approximately 11.5% for the year through September 2, despite an approximately 420 basis point drag caused by the July 23 repayment of the TOBAM-backed Smarter Convert instrument.

    Smarter Web sold 177.8909127 BTC to repay the financing early, using Bitcoin originally purchased with proceeds from the instrument. As crypto.news previously reported, the $11.7 million repayment occurred around two weeks before maturity and removed the potential issuance of more than 7.7 million ordinary shares associated with the convertible structure. Chief executive Andrew Webley said at the time that the convertible had provided an alternative financing source during an earlier stage of the company’s treasury expansion, but management no longer considered convertible instruments the preferred funding option for its current position.

    The repayment left Smarter Web with exactly 2,700 BTC. It resumed buying soon afterward, purchasing another 11.89 BTC and bringing holdings to 2,712 BTC in early August. That purchase moved the company to 28th place in BitcoinTreasuries’ ranking of public corporate Bitcoin holders at the time.

    Smarter Web has used several funding channels during its treasury expansion. In May, the company disclosed it had drawn £18 million from a Coinbase credit facility secured against Bitcoin, with a leverage ratio of roughly 12.19%. The facility carried a variable interest rate of 6.75% to 7.25% and could be repaid without penalty. At the time, the company had increased its holdings to 2,869 BTC after purchasing 10 BTC at an average price of £55,786 per coin. Its total investment in Bitcoin stood at £232.48 million, with an average acquisition cost of £81,032 per BTC.

    Valuation Underpinned by Bitcoin Price Forecasts

    Bitcoin was approaching $78,000 on Monday and remained approximately 38% below its all-time high near $126,000. TD Cowen’s base case assumes Bitcoin reaches roughly $100,000 by December. Its upside scenario puts the cryptocurrency at $175,000, while the downside case assumes a decline to $25,000.

    The bank had previously revised its Smarter Web valuation in July after changing its Bitcoin price assumptions. At that point, TD Cowen assigned £63 million to the company’s treasury operations and projected year-end 2026 Bitcoin holdings worth £229 million. After accounting for an estimated £18 million of net debt, the analysts arrived at an equity value of £274 million, equivalent to £0.64 per share based on 426 million fully diluted shares.

    Company Background and Growth Strategy

    Smarter Web began building its Bitcoin treasury in 2025 under its long-term “10 Year Plan.” The company started accepting Bitcoin payments in 2022 before making BTC accumulation part of its corporate treasury policy. Its Bitcoin position expanded quickly through repeated purchases during 2025 and 2026, supported by equity raises, convertible financing, and secured borrowing. The firm moved from Aquis to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market in February 2026. TD Cowen expects Smarter Web’s acquisition activity to gradually return to the pace recorded during fiscal 2025 as the company continues developing its treasury and operating businesses.

  • Payward and London Stock Exchange Partner to Tokenize Leading UK Stocks

    Payward and London Stock Exchange Partner to Tokenize Leading UK Stocks

    The London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, are partnering to bring tokenized versions of the UK’s largest listed companies to blockchain-based markets.

    Under the planned initiative, Payward will tokenize the top 100 London-listed stocks as xStocks. The LSE will explore supporting trading in those tokens through LSE 24, its proposed 24-hour trading venue, subject to regulatory approval.

    Top 100 London-listed companies planned for xStocks

    The partnership would expand xStocks into one of the world’s major equity markets. Since launching just over a year ago, the tokenized stock framework has recorded more than $40 billion in total volume, including over $20 billion in onchain settlement volume.

    xStocks now have more than 200,000 holders. Payward said the framework has demonstrated how tokenized assets can give investors access to companies and markets beyond traditional geographic and market-access limitations.

    The planned UK rollout would make the top 100 London-listed companies available as xStocks to investors in more than 110 countries. The tokens would provide continuous, onchain exposure to some of the UK’s largest listed companies, although they are not currently available to UK investors, Payward stated.

    If regulators approve the arrangement, the LSE would list the xStocks and support their trading through LSE 24. The initiative could enable LSE members to trade tokenized securities representing companies from the US, EU, UK and Hong Kong alongside other asset classes, combining continuous blockchain-based trading with established regulated infrastructure.

    Payward and the LSE also plan to examine native, issuer-sponsored equity tokens. These instruments could allow LSE members to issue and service shares directly onchain while preserving the rights and fungibility associated with conventional securities.

    London Stock Exchange plans longer trading hours

    The London Stock Exchange plans to launch an overnight trading venue in the first half of 2027. The move would extend the exchange’s operating hours as it seeks to attract international retail investors and compete with the continuous accessibility of crypto markets.

    The LSE has already expanded its presence in crypto-linked products. In mid-2024, it began listing physically backed Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs after the debut of US spot Bitcoin ETFs. Although those products initially targeted professional investors, changes by the Financial Conduct Authority have since enabled retail participation.

    The overnight venue will initially focus on exchange-traded products, giving the LSE a targeted entry point into extended-hours trading. Longer trading hours could make London-listed investment products more accessible to investors in Asia, the Middle East, North America and other markets outside the exchange’s traditional trading window.

    The exchange also intends to integrate agentic AI capabilities into the venue. The systems could support portfolio evaluation, market research and trade execution.

  • London Stock Exchange Partners With Payward to Bring the UK’s Largest Stocks On-Chain

    London Stock Exchange Partners With Payward to Bring the UK’s Largest Stocks On-Chain

    The London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, have agreed to expand tokenized stock trading through Payward’s xStocks framework.

    The partnership builds on a platform that has scaled rapidly. In just over a year, xStocks have recorded more than $40 billion in total trading volume, with nearly $20 billion settled onchain. Payward said the products now have more than 200,000 holders.

    Read more: NYSE owner ICE taps tZERO for tokenized securities push, takes stake in firm

    Tokenized U.K. shares planned for global distribution

    The agreement could give U.K.-listed shares access to investors in more than 110 countries through blockchain infrastructure. However, xStocks are not currently available to investors based in the U.K.

    Subject to regulatory approval, the LSE said it will begin listing xStocks and support their trading on LSE 24, its recently announced 24-hour trading venue. The platform is expected to eventually cover tokenized equities from the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Hong Kong, along with additional asset classes as the framework expands.

    The companies also plan to explore equity tokens issued natively by the LSE. This would allow LSE members to issue and service shares directly onchain while preserving full fungibility and the same rights attached to traditional stock.

    “For years, the assumption was that crypto and traditional finance were on a collision course, and one of them would have to lose. That was never the real story,” said Arjun Sethi, Payward’s co-CEO, in a statement.