Africa Bitcoin Corporation upgrades listing to Johannesburg Stock Exchange Main Board

Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC), the South Africa-based Bitcoin treasury and SME financing firm, has applied to transfer its listing from South Africa’s Alternative Exchange (AltX), a board for smaller companies, to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) Main Board.

The transfer will move all of the company’s share classes, including its ordinary shares and preferred A, B, and C shares, to the JSE Main Board under the exchange’s General Segment classification, the company said in a statement on Monday. The JSE has approved the move set to take effect on Friday, May 22.

The move is the latest step in Africa Bitcoin Corporation’s multi-exchange expansion across Africa, as it seeks to bring Bitcoin exposure to institutional investors through publicly traded stock exchanges.

Questco Corporate Advisory Proprietary Limited, a South Africa-based advisory firm which previously acted as the company’s designated advisor, will become its JSE sponsor from the transfer date.

In March, Africa Bitcoin Corporation completed a 3-for-1 share split and issued up to 22.9 million new ordinary shares to meet the minimum share capital requirements for a Main Board listing and additional international listings.

“[Africa Bitcoin Corporation] has strategic ambitions to broaden its exchange footprint, including a potential migration to the JSE Main Board and participation on additional international trading platforms. Increasing the issued Ordinary Share capital will assist the [ABC] in achieving the minimum issued share capital criteria applicable to such exchange and market segments,” the company said in the March 25 filing.

Under JSE Main Board listing requirements, companies seeking to list must have at least 25 million issued equity shares in circulation and meet one of two financial thresholds. 

They must either report a pre-tax profit of at least R15 million ($902,700) in the most recent financial year and hold net assets of at least R50 million ($3 million), or hold net assets of at least R500 million ($30 million).

Africa Bitcoin Corporation met the profit threshold in the year ended February 2025, its last released full-year report. It earned R47.9 million ($2.9 million) in total profit. Most of it came from an R86.2 million ($5.2 million) fair value gain tied to its Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund (ACOF), the company’s SME lending arm, rather than from its core operations, according to the report.

At the time, the company had 11 million ordinary shares in issue, less than half the JSE’s 25 million minimum for Main Board listings, which required it to issue additional shares.

The Main Board listing gives the company more flexibility under JSE rules.

Under the General Segment classification, Africa Bitcoin Corporation will not need shareholder approval to issue shares for cash, as long as the issuance stays below 10% of its issued share capital. 

The company can also repurchase some shares without shareholder approval and is no longer required to publish condensed financial results within three months of its financial year-end, according to the Monday filing.

Africa Bitcoin Corporation, which now holds 5 Bitcoins in its reserves, said in 2025 that it planned to raise $210 million to build a Bitcoin treasury reserve, following the model popularised by firms like Strategy in the United States.

The company is already listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX), and trades on the OTCQB Ventures Market in the United States. ABC is also listed on German retail trading exchanges, including the Börse Frankfurt Quotation Board, Tradegate, and Lang & Schwarz.

In October 2025, Warren Wheatley, ABC’s chief executive officer (CEO) and Stafford Masie, its executive chairman, told TechCabal that the company plans to pursue further listings across Africa, including in Botswana and Kenya, as well as London. 

As a listed Bitcoin treasury firm, ABC could raise capital through equity issuance, buy Bitcoin with the proceeds, and give investors indirect exposure to the digital asset through publicly traded shares.

Public listings also allow ABC to sidestep crypto trading restrictions in some African markets. In countries where retail crypto trading is banned, investors can still gain exposure to Bitcoin by buying shares in the company.