Placing to raise £500,000

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC

16 April 2026

 

16 April 2026

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc
("QBT" or "the Company")

Placing to raise £500,000 and

New Virtual Bitcoin Mining Subsidiary

Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focused principally on a research, development and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to announce that it has raised £500,000 (before expenses) through the placing of 142,857,142  new ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each in the Company ("Placing Shares") at a price of 0.35 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing").

The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to allow the Company:

·    to fund its continued research and development programme for its proprietary technology aimed at improving the efficiency of bitcoin mining to allow the Company to start the porting of the AI Oracle onto the mining rigs of new ASIC manufacturers.

·    to invest up to £100,000 into BlocKeeper, a new company which is developing a hardware-free Bitcoin "virtual mining" operation intended to selectively acquire hashing power from established Bitcoin miners and deploy hash rate to mine Bitcoins.

BlocKeeper

QBT has, over the past several months, been working on the formation of a new subsidiary company, BlocKeeper, whose strategy is to selectively acquire hashing power from established Bitcoin miners, providing these miners with liquidity at different stages in their mining cycles to cover cyclical or systemic funding shortfalls and providing BlocKeeper with the means to deploy hash rate to mine Bitcoins at competitive prices.

BlocKeeper will seek to harness QBT's extensive industry network, built up over the past five years, to establish itself within the Bitcoin market. It is further planned that BlocKeeper will utilise QBT's disruptive AI driven software products to improve the hashing performance of the mining companies with whom it is looking to establish commercial arrangements.

BlocKeeper will be appointing an experienced board of directors, including Alessandro Malacart, as CEO. Mr Malacart brings 12 years' experience in the digital start-up investment sector. Two independent non-executive directors have also agreed to join the board, subject to completion of director due diligence; one of whom is a former co-head of quantitative analysis at a major US investment bank in New York, while the second is currently the treasurer of a New York Stock Exchange listed international industrial manufacturing company.

QBT will continue to focus on its core R&D programme where it is looking to deliver its Bitcoin mining software products to the market. Its business activities and board of directors will remain separate to those of BlocKeeper, except in areas of business where synergies are available to the benefit of both companies.

The Company is seeking to list BlocKeeper on AQSE Stock Exchange Growth Market. Nevertheless, QBT shareholders should note that there remain several contingent aspects of this process. Accordingly, there can be no certainty that the proposed listing will occur.

Admission and Total Voting Rights

Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM with admission expected to occur at 8.00a.m. on or around 21 April 2026. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing ordinary shares.

Following admission of the Placing Shares, the Company's issued share capital will comprise 1,608,083,941 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman of QBT, commented:

"Today's placing allows us to start the porting  of our technology onto the mining rigs of new ASIC manufacturers.

"The funding also provides initial seed capital for the launch of our new venture, BlocKeeper. We have been looking at ways for some time now to create a valid business strategy to physically mine Bitcoin utilising our extensive industry network and own cutting-edge technology. We have developed BlocKeeper to complement our core strategy of deploying our AI-based software products to Bitcoin miners. BlocKeeper is, we believe, a unique and scaleable way to enter this market.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

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For further information please contact:

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc                                                              [phone]

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)                      [phone]

Caroline Rowe / Devik Mehta

Leander (Financial PR)                                                                                   [phone]

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is a London Stock Exchange AIM listed Research & Development and investing company focused on an intensive R&D programme to disrupt the Blockchain Technologies sector which includes, cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications. The primary goal of the R&D programme is to develop Bitcoin mining tools and techniques, via its technology-driven approach, which the Company believes will significantly outperform existing market practices.

 

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