When Kwasi Kwarteng served as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer in September 2022, his tenure lasted just 38 days before a chaotic mini-budget sent the pound to a 37-year low and triggered a political crisis that brought down the Liz Truss government alongside it. More than three years later, Kwarteng is back in financial headlines for a very different reason. He now serves as executive chairman of Stack BTC, a publicly listed British Bitcoin treasury company, and the firm is drawing a growing circle of prominent political and institutional backers that is turning heads far beyond the London stock market.
What Is Stack BTC?
Stack is a London-based firm listed on the UK challenger stock exchange Aquis that operates by building a portfolio of companies and channelling their surplus cash into Bitcoin. Its core objective is to establish a substantial Bitcoin treasury through continuous accumulation of the digital currency. The company trades under the ticker STAK and has positioned itself as the British answer to the MicroStrategy-style corporate Bitcoin treasury model that has gained significant traction in the United States over the past two years.
Stack BTC emerged from the restructuring of a previous digital asset investment vehicle and subsequently rebranded to focus on accumulating Bitcoin while pursuing business acquisitions. The company currently holds 31 BTC on its balance sheet, a modest figure by global standards but one that Kwarteng and his team say is the starting point for a much larger accumulation strategy as the firm grows its portfolio of cash-generating UK businesses.
Farage Takes a Stake, Blockchain.com Signs On
The firm made wider headlines in March 2026 when it completed a funding round that brought in two headline investors. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, invested £215,000 in Stack BTC through his company Thorn In The Side Ltd, acquiring 4.3 million shares at 5 pence each and securing a 6.31% stake in the firm. The total fundraising round raised £260,000 and also included Blockchain.com as a strategic investor.
Notably, Farage’s stake is larger than Kwarteng’s own holding. Kwarteng, the firm’s executive chairman, holds a 5.43% interest in the company including shares owned by his wife. Blockchain.com will work with the company to develop its Bitcoin treasury infrastructure and institutional-grade custody services. Stack BTC shares rose 12% to 6.875 pence following the announcement.
What Kwarteng and Farage Are Saying
Both men have been outspoken in their reasoning for backing the firm. Farage framed his investment in explicitly national terms, stating that London and the UK have historically been the centre of the world’s financial markets and that Britain should be a major global hub for the crypto industry. He also connected the investment to his long-standing support for UK small and medium-sized businesses, noting his excitement about Stack’s plans to acquire and grow British companies.
Kwarteng’s own views on Bitcoin and monetary policy have been shaped, at least in part, by his experiences in government. In an interview with CoinDesk, he was candid about the missteps of the mini-budget and pointed to a cultural gap with Europe, noting that Paris is becoming quite forward-leaning on digital assets. He also pushed back on criticism from Boris Johnson, who had claimed Bitcoin was a “Ponzi,” arguing instead for a more open-minded view of emerging forms of money. For Kwarteng, Stack BTC represents a move away from the reactive, short-term policymaking that defined his brief ministerial career and toward what he describes as a longer-term view of economic resilience.
The Broader Shift: Political Figures and Bitcoin
The Stack BTC story is part of a broader pattern of political figures in Western democracies moving from scepticism toward active engagement with Bitcoin. In the United States, the Trump administration has moved to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and several sitting senators have publicly disclosed personal Bitcoin holdings. In the UK, the alignment between Kwarteng and Farage represents the most high-profile convergence yet of mainstream political capital and Bitcoin advocacy.
Kwarteng stated that during his time as Chancellor, the British Treasury and the Bank of England had some knowledge of digital assets and Bitcoin, but the issues remained of very limited importance within government at the time. He now believes Britain remains distant from financial innovation and has highlighted cultural differences regarding the approach to digital assets across Europe. That gap, he argues, is precisely why Stack BTC exists and why the UK needs more voices making the case for Bitcoin as a serious financial asset rather than a speculative curiosity.
What It Means for Bitcoin Adoption in Britain
Analysts suggest that the symbolism of a former Chancellor and the leader of Britain’s most popular opposition party both putting personal capital into a Bitcoin treasury company carries weight beyond the relatively small sums involved. It signals a shift in the political acceptability of Bitcoin in the UK at a time when the country is actively competing with the EU and the US for digital asset business and talent.
Stack BTC remains a small company by any measure, but its growing political profile and its partnership with Blockchain.com, one of the most established names in global crypto infrastructure, give it a platform that extends well beyond its current balance sheet. For Bitcoin advocates in the UK, the firm represents something increasingly rare in the current regulatory environment: a publicly traded, institutionally backed, politically supported vehicle for British Bitcoin accumulation. Whether the model scales is a question that will take years to answer. That it exists at all, with the names attached to it, is itself a sign of how far the conversation has moved.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile. Always conduct your own research before making any investment decisions.
