justburrough
96 posts




Our ambition is to become one of the largest companies in the UK. I believe that our strategy gives us a credible path to achieving that goal. At the centre of our approach is the balance sheet. We are building a balance sheet around what we believe is the best form of capital available: Bitcoin. As that balance sheet grows, it creates opportunities across the business. It can support the growth of our operating activities, enable strategic acquisitions, provide flexibility to pursue new opportunities as they emerge, and allow us to further strengthen and expand the balance sheet itself. These are often viewed as separate strategies, but we do not see them that way. They are all connected. We have one strategy, and it revolves around building and intelligently deploying a strong balance sheet. Everything else flows from that foundation. Because of this we think that it is important for investors and potential investors to understand this balance sheet at any moment in time and increasingly these investors include institutional investors who are used to specific metrics. We believe the term "mNAV" is currently being used in ways that can create confusion rather than clarity. Various companies and commentators often calculate the metric differently. Some use Market Capitalisation as the numerator, while others use Enterprise Value. On the denominator side, some use Net Asset Value, while others use the market value of Bitcoin holdings, often referring to this as "BTC NAV" despite it being closer to a gross asset value than a true NAV calculation. The treatment of outstanding securities is also a further element. We use the fully diluted number of shares which includes all in the money warrants and then factors in cash linked to the warrant proceeds, however if we were creating our analytics from the beginning, understanding everything that we know now, we would treat Smarter Convert as debt rather than an instrument that will convert into equity. In traditional finance, mNAV generally refers to Market Capitalisation divided by Net Asset Value, producing a premium or discount multiple relative to NAV. However, many of the mNAV metrics currently used in the Bitcoin treasury company sector employ neither of these measures, resulting in a broad range of calculations that share the same label but convey very different information. We believe this lack of standardisation becomes increasingly problematic as treasury companies introduce debt, preferred equity and other financing instruments. As capital structures become more complex, comparisons between companies become less meaningful if investors are not working from a common framework. For this reason, we updated our analytics dashboard during the week and are moving away from mNAV as a primary valuation metric. Instead, we now display "Fully Diluted EV vs BTC Value", calculated as Fully Diluted Enterprise Value divided by the current market value of total Bitcoin holdings. We have also added charts that show “Net Bitcoin Value Per Fully Diluted Share” and “Net Sats Per Fully Diluted Share”. For all calculations on our analytics page, you can hover over the question marks and view the formulas. In our view, this provides a completer and more transparent picture of the value of a Bitcoin treasury company. We believe investors should also consider several important measures, including leverage or amplification, Bitcoin per share growth over time ("Bitcoin Yield"), and the sustainability of that growth going forward. The last being harder to statistically analyse. This naturally leads to another question we were asked this week: what is the single most important metric for evaluating a Bitcoin treasury company? Our view is that there is no single number. Our treasury objective is straightforward: to increase the amount of Bitcoin attributable to each share over time. However, we would encourage investors to assess performance over quarters and years rather than days or weeks. The key question is whether management decisions are increasing Bitcoin per share on a sustainable basis. For a simple, ungeared treasury company, the analysis can appear relatively straightforward. One could argue that issuing shares is accretive whenever the value received exceeds the Bitcoin value attributable to the shares issued. However, the reality becomes considerably more nuanced once debt financing, debt repayment, warrant repurchases, share buybacks and other capital allocation decisions enter the equation. A transaction that appears dilutive when viewed through one metric may in fact be accretive when viewed through another. This is precisely why we believe the industry requires better and more transparent analytics. As treasury strategies become more sophisticated, and treasury companies become much larger, investors need to consider multiple variables rather than relying on a single ratio or headline figure. For public companies, such as The Smarter Web Company, there is an additional dimension. Investors should not only consider the Bitcoin treasury itself, but also operating revenues, corporate costs, cash generation and the broader business activities that sit alongside the treasury strategy. These elements can have a meaningful impact on the company's ability to grow Bitcoin per share over the long term. If Bitcoin treasury companies are to mature into a recognised institutional asset class, the industry will benefit from greater consistency in reporting standards, valuation methodologies and performance metrics. Investors should be able to compare companies using measures that are transparent, widely understood and economically meaningful. Over the coming months, we intend to continue refining our analytics framework and working with others across the sector to help improve consistency and comparability throughout the industry. On Monday this week we announced an update to our ATM-style facility. We raised £145,670 (before expenses), equivalent to approximately £0.29 per share. The ATM-style facility continues to be an important part of our capital markets toolkit and provides us with valuable flexibility as we execute our strategy. Throughout the week we continued sharing the remaining videos filmed at the Bitcoin Treasuries Unconference UK. As a reminder, early bird tickets for the 2027 event are available on our website. Looking ahead, we have decided to rename the event series from Bitcoin Treasuries Unconference UK to Bitcoin Treasuries Conference UK. As we scale both the event and help scale the wider industry in the UK, we believe this name will be more familiar to a broader audience. The core spirit and format of the event will remain largely unchanged, but we believe this evolution will help us reach and engage a larger community. I would also like to remind shareholders that we have an important vote at our General Meeting on 17 June. Shortly afterwards, we will announce the results via RNS. Thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to vote. Depending on your platform, there may still be an opportunity to submit your vote if you have not yet done so. Voting is an important part of share ownership, regardless of whether you vote for or against a resolution. Finally, I would like to acknowledge that our share price is not currently performing as well as I would like. I cannot control the market, but I can control what we are building and the two certainly seem a little disconnected from where I am sitting. While short-term market performance can be frustrating, my conviction in the direction of the business has never been stronger. I believe we are executing the right strategy, and I am excited about where we are heading. As our progress becomes more widely understood and the opportunity ahead of Smarter Web becomes clearer, I believe the market will recognise the value of what we are building. Thank you for your support. LSE: #SWC | OTCQB: $TSWCF | FRA: $3M8


It has been a challenging week for Bitcoin, with the price experiencing one of its steepest weekly percentage declines since late 2022. However, investors should remember that volatility is an inherent characteristic of Bitcoin. It is also worth recalling that late 2022 marked the bottom of the previous bear market, before Bitcoin went on to reach new all-time highs. While Bitcoin’s performance this year has fallen short of many investors’ expectations, periods of weakness have historically been followed by phases of renewed growth. Since its inception, Bitcoin has repeatedly overcome significant market corrections, regulatory concerns and macroeconomic challenges, ultimately rewarding investors who maintained a long-term perspective. In fact, a number of institutional investors and asset managers have published research demonstrating that, despite its volatility, a modest allocation to Bitcoin has historically improved the risk-adjusted returns of traditional portfolios. One commonly used measure of risk-adjusted performance is the Sharpe ratio, which assesses how much return an investment generates relative to the volatility experienced to achieve those returns. While Bitcoin has often been one of the most volatile assets available to investors, its long-term returns have historically been sufficiently strong that, when combined with traditional assets, it has often improved overall portfolio efficiency rather than detracted from it. Personally, I have a high allocation to Bitcoin and Bitcoin treasury companies at approximately 100% of my portfolio. I have always been open about this and it is what I am comfortable with as I attach little value to most other asset classes including cash. But, whilst not offering financial advice, I do think that everyone should have an allocation to Bitcoin and Bitcoin treasury companies. For most, who do not share my high conviction, perhaps somewhere between 1% and 10% is sensible. There is currently considerable discussion around perpetual preferred equities as what may become one of the most important capital markets instruments available to Bitcoin treasury companies. Given the recent movement in Bitcoin's price, I thought it would be useful to explain these in the context of volatile price movements. We have already reminded ourselves that Bitcoin is volatile. Despite that volatility, I believe it remains the best asset on which to build a corporate treasury. Equally, I believe that perpetual preferred equities represent one of the most attractive structures for raising permanent capital. It can appeal to yield-seeking investors while allowing the benefits generated from deploying that capital into Bitcoin to accrue to ordinary shareholders over time. All forms of capital have a cost. With perpetual preferred equity, that cost is relatively straightforward to understand: the dividend commitment. The key question then becomes whether the return generated from the deployment of that capital exceeds its cost over time. The Bitcoin treasury model is relatively simple in this regard. For example, Strategy currently pays 11.5% on STRC and Strive pays 13% on SATA. Looking at Bitcoin's historical performance, the compound annual growth rate over the last 3, 5 and 10 years has been approximately 39%, 15% and 59% respectively. £1 million invested three years ago would be worth approximately £2.26 million today. £1 million invested five years ago would be worth approximately £2.00 million today. £1 million invested ten years ago would be worth approximately £107 million today. These figures illustrate an important point. While Bitcoin is volatile, the long-term historical growth rate has significantly exceeded the cost of capital represented by current perpetual preferred equity dividend rates. Using the most conservative comparison above, if capital costs 13% per annum and the underlying asset compounds at 15% per annum, value is still being created over time. Of course, this is an intentionally simplified example and does not reflect all the complexities of a real corporate treasury model. However, it serves to illustrate the basic principle behind why a growing number of Bitcoin treasury companies view perpetual preferred equity as an attractive source of long-term capital. Importantly, this approach seeks to minimise many of the challenges associated with other forms of financing while allowing a company to continue building its Bitcoin balance sheet, and increasing Bitcoin per share, over extended periods of time. It is important to note that historical performance does not guarantee future results. The figures above are provided solely to illustrate the relationship between the cost of capital and Bitcoin's historical long-term growth rates and should not be interpreted as a forecast of future Bitcoin performance. On Friday last week, we held the inaugural Bitcoin Treasury Unconference. I have received a great deal of positive feedback since then, and we have now released the individual videos, along with photographs from the event, on our website for everyone to enjoy. We will be holding the event again next year and early bird tickets are already available via our website. Thank you to everyone who attended, spoke at or sponsored the event. On Monday this week, we released two announcements. Firstly, we updated the market regarding warrants exercised since the pre-IPO warrant window was opened. Today, there are just 8,075,600 of these pre-IPO warrants held by external investors. When we listed the business, and Bitcoin treasury companies were far less understood than they are today, these warrants formed an important part of our route to becoming a public company. I am pleased that the warrant overhang has now been substantially reduced. The second RNS on Monday related to a proposed capital reduction and notice of general meeting. There has been speculation online regarding the reasons behind this proposal and I would encourage shareholders to refer to the official announcement for the company's comments. I would also like to ask every shareholder to vote their shares if they have not already done so. Whether you support or oppose a proposal, exercising your right to vote is an important part of being a shareholder. We hope that you will support this important resolution. On Tuesday I had an update session with Squarebird, the business we acquired earlier this year using approximately 1% of our balance sheet enabling us to significantly grow our revenues. I am delighted with the progress they are making on growing the business and look forward to the hard work the team are putting into the projects developing into figures which will then be released in future updates we announce. We are lucky to have such a good business as part of our group. For the remainder of the week, we made only two further announcements, both relating to updated TR-1 notifications from 210k Capital, LP. 210k have been a shareholder since the start of our journey and we are pleased to have Tyler Evans also on our board. These notifications were required because of our increased number of shares in issue and a change of ownership of their parent company. The quantity of shares held by 210k Capital has not changed; only its percentage ownership has changed. Under UK listing rules, significant shareholders must notify the company when certain percentage thresholds are crossed, and the company must then update the market accordingly. Our team has been working exceptionally hard this week. Our focus remains on driving forward the various projects that we are working on, and I appreciate that it can sometimes be frustrating for shareholders not to know everything that is happening behind the scenes. However, we will disclose developments at the appropriate time and, in my view, the direction in which we are heading is the right one for the success of the business. We are fortunate to have one of the most supportive shareholder communities in the Bitcoin treasury space. We will continue pushing forward every day, with speed, discipline and precision, as we work to build what we believe Smarter Web can become. Thank you for your continued support; I never take that support for granted. We are working hard every day to justify the trust you place in us, and I look forward to updating you on our progress as we move forward. LSE: #SWC | OTCQB: $TSWCF | FRA: $3M8










Yesterday we held the inaugural Bitcoin Treasuries Unconference UK, in Bristol, bringing together an outstanding group of companies, investors, suppliers and advisers from across the Bitcoin and public markets ecosystem. It was UK focused but with some of the best global companies also supporting. What started as an idea during a conversation late last year with @ejuline and @TimKotzman became a real event with great content, quality conversations, and the chance for people to meet each other, whilst having a little fun at the same time. A huge thank you to everyone who attended, spoke or sponsored the event. A special thank you to @LauraStH1991 and @aw_smarterwebuk at The Smarter Web Company for organising the event so well. The willingness to openly share experiences, challenges and ideas helped create exactly the kind of environment we hoped for - thoughtful, constructive and focused on long-term opportunity. We believe this is only the beginning for the UK Bitcoin treasury movement, and we are excited to play our part in this exciting sector. Monday this week was a bank holiday in the UK. @the_desert_ape joined @RoxomTV for the weekly “The State of Bitcoin Markets” show. I enjoyed watching this as I was at my desk for most of the day trying to catch up on some tasks after getting back from the @BitcoinconfIRL on Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday we announced 10 Bitcoin added to The Smarter Web Company treasury. On Thursday I headed over to Squarebird HQ to film a short video with @JayW132 and @AlexGlasse from @BitcoinColl. We thought that showing some of our operating business in a film was important so that people could see more about how Bitcoin is improving the real-world economy. We are building a balance sheet on Bitcoin and we can use that balance sheet to grow further. After this I spent some time with some of our team as both @tylev and @Croesus_BTC had travelled to the UK for the event. As we put the finishing touches to the event our team got together for a meal in the evening on Thursday and we were joined by a few special friends. It was nice to see everyone together and I really enjoyed it. On Friday we announced the second Bitcoin purchase of the week with a further 9 Bitcoin added to The Smarter Web Company treasury. We now hold 2,878 Bitcoin with a quarter-to-date Bitcoin yield of 15.79%. I often highlight the need to consider all the various analytics figures as a whole and at the Bitcoin Treasuries Unconference UK yesterday @LizardWizardBTC from @StrategyTracker talked about role of data and analytics in Bitcoin treasury company metrics. Friday was of course the big day. Around 300 people attended and I was both pleased, and also slightly relieved, that the first Bitcoin Treasuries Unconference UK was such an enjoyable event. In the evening we also held a VIP dinner, sponsored by @xapobankapp, with 120 people meeting at a restaurant near the venue enjoying some fantastic food, a few drinks and more conversations into the evening. Again, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended, spoke or sponsored the event and The Bitcoin Treasuries Unconference UK will now be an annual event. We have updated our website to enable people to buy early bird tickets for next year. We have not yet announced the day, but I am hoping that it will be the 21 May and when we have the venue fully confirmed we will update the website. Next week we will also aim to get the photos and videos from yesterdays event published so that you can see these. Today I am heading for breakfast with @AlexandreLaizet from @_ALCPB. When we look back at the early days of Bitcoin treasury companies in the years that follow, I think that he will deserve credit for some of the ground breaking actions he has taken. After this I will be spending the day with @TheBitcoin__. In August last year he showed me around Hong Kong and today I will repay the favour by showing him some of the best bits of Bristol. We will film some short videos as we go and share that in due course. Tomorrow, I hope to be able to spend a little time with my family before another busy week and as always, I am grateful to you all for your support. LSE: #SWC | OTCQB: $TSWCF | FRA: $3M8








RNS Announcement: Proposed Capital Reduction and Notice of General Meeting Please read the RNS on our website (link in comments). LSE: #SWC | OTCQB: $TSWCF | FRA: $3M8

















