Africa Bitcoin Corporation has announced plans to list on London’s Aquis Stock Exchange to accelerate growth in its African SME lending activities.
The company specialises in providing loans to African SMEs that are unserved by mainstream financial institutions, despite these SMEs being the lifeblood of an economy expected to be the world’s fourth-largest by 2050.
The Johannesburg-listed group, which calls itself the world’s first Bitcoin-backed SME growth accelerator, expects its shares to start trading on the Aquis Growth Market 17th August in a secondary listing. Africa Bitcoin Corporation is already listed in South Africa, Namibia, the United States and Frankfurt.
“We’re thrilled to announce our intention to list on the Aquis Stock Exchange as Africa Bitcoin Corporation reaches its next milestone in connecting African SMEs with the growth capital they need to flourish,” said Warren Wheatley, CEO of Africa Bitcoin Corporation.
“Africa Bitcoin Corporation already trades on five exchanges, and a London admission will connect us with international capital, enhancing our ability to fund the continent’s growth story.”
As part of the listing, the company said it has conditionally raised £250,000, with proceeds going toward general working capital. Given that the company already has extensive operations and has been listed elsewhere for several years, the London listing appears to be more about deepening its global presence to advance its African SME lending strategy, rather than a pure capital-raising exercise.
African SME lending
Africa Bitcoin Corporation has two distinct elements to its business for investors to consider.
The first, and its primary revenue generator, is lending. The group originates secured loans that provide African SMEs with growth capital, a market it argues banks have largely abandoned in favour of big corporates and government paper. On its own figures, this lending earns interest of around 18% and generates recurring cash flows for the business.
The second is a Bitcoin treasury. ABC holds Bitcoin as a long-term reserve, meant to hedge against a weakening rand and inflation and, crucially, to lower what it pays to borrow.
The key detail is that the Bitcoin is held in a separate, ring-fenced vehicle. No other group assets are exposed to its price, and ABC says it won’t sell any of it to fund day-to-day lending. It’s positioned as a balance-sheet asset to borrow against, not a trading position.
CEO Warren Wheatley explains that using Bitcoin as collateral for financing loans reduced their costs from ‘roughly 13% to as low as 5%’. Unlike some other Bitcoin treasury companies, ABC’s use of Bitcoin provides clear operational benefits, mainly improved lending margins.
What the loan book looks like
The company makes loans from the Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund, ABC’s non-bank lending vehicle. By the end of May 2026, it had grown assets under management to R512 million, roughly £22.7 million. That covered 59 loans to 45 companies across 23 industries, which the company says have created or supported more than 2,400 jobs. The average loan runs to about R6.2 million (around £0.3 million), at an average rate of 18.3% and average cover of 2.6 times.
On credit quality, ABC highlights bad debts of just 0.09% of the book. This is a notably low number that we explored in a recent interview with the team. We must highlight, however, that arrears and provisioning are higher (around 6%), which is more in line with what you’d expect from a lender operating in this area.
For the year to February 2026, the group reported revenue of R16.5 million and total assets of R347.9 million, up more than a third year-on-year.
The Bitcoin argument
The part that sets ABC apart from its peers, and the part that invites the most debate, is that the function of holding Bitcoin makes its capital cheaper.
The idea is that Bitcoin can be pledged to global lenders at rates far below those available in African credit markets, reducing funding costs from roughly 13% in rand to about 5% in dollars.
Put this against 18% lending income, and you get the flywheel the company describes: cheaper money funds more loans, profits flow back into the treasury, Bitcoin per share climbs.
ABC says it borrows conservatively against the coins, targeting loan-to-value ratios well below the level that would trigger a margin call. For now, the position is small: 5.5331 BTC at an average cost of about £67,800 a coin. It’s a starting reserve, not the centre of the balance sheet yet. So while the name suggests a company deeply entrenched in cryptocurrency, in reality ABC is first and foremost a lending company seeking to improve its margins by using Bitcoin as collateral.
A big gap to lend into
Core to ABC’s appeal is its exposure to the exciting world of African SMEs, which no other London-listed firm can offer in such a concentrated manner.
Beyond the immediate potential in the companies at the forefront of Africa’s economy, there is a significant opportunity to improve lending to African SMEs. Inadequate lending infrastructure hampers the flow of capital from potential lenders to the companies, creating an ecosystem ripe for innovation by platforms such as ABC.
Wheatley explains that: “Africa’s small and mid-sized businesses face a funding gap of around £247 billion, not for a lack of good businesses, but for a lack of lending infrastructure to connect them with capital.”
Africa Bitcoin Corporation is helping to fill this gap by providing loans secured by collateral following a specialised credit assessment.
Set against a young, fast-growing population of roughly 1.5 billion, it argues well-structured secured loans can earn mid-teens to 20% without straying into junk credit.
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini are identified as the next markets, each with pools of local pension and insurance capital that must largely remain onshore.
Africa’s opportunity
Concluding, ABC’s case is straightforward: access to African private credit, wrapped around exposure to Africa’s long-term growth story.
From a risk perspective, while ring-fencing Bitcoin insulates the lending business from Bitcoin’s swings and the loan-to-value of its Bitcoin holdings is low, the value of the reserve remains exposed to underlying volatility. In addition, the loan book is still developing and concentrated in a few markets. This, however, is also part of the opportunity for a company squarely focused on growth in the continent with the world’s most favourable demographics.
“Our Aquis listing will build on our strong foundations of 45 businesses funded across 23 industries and more than 2,400 jobs created or supported,” Wheatley says.
“We believe Africa Bitcoin Corporation is perfectly placed to facilitate further economic growth across the continent, where we see an investment case underpinned by a population of 1.5 billion with an average age of 19, accelerating urbanisation and a rapidly growing entrepreneurial base.”