Vaultz Capital plc, now trading under the ticker V3TC, has undergone one of the more striking pivots seen on the Aquis Exchange in recent years. Previously known as Helium Ventures plc, the company officially rebranded in June 2025, marking its departure from a speculative helium exploration narrative into the world of digital assets.
Vaultz is an operating company. Its primary purpose is to build a scalable, revenue-generating business through participation in the Bitcoin network infrastructure. The company’s Treasury is secondary. Vaultz announced it had successfully secured 20 PH/s of hashrate capacity on 21 July 2025. The information on the company’s purpose and operating activities is available in its boilerplate at the end of each RNS
The rebrand is more than cosmetic. It follows a period of reassessment after a £4 million fundraising round in early 2025 aimed at expanding the company’s focus and operational mandate. Vaultz has since announced a series of Bitcoin purchases and treasury strategy updates that underscore a serious commitment to holding Bitcoin as a core treasury asset. For retail investors familiar with the Aquis market’s more speculative side, Vaultz represents a new type of proposition, a microcap betting not on minerals in the ground, but digital scarcity in the cloud.
From Helium Dreams to Digital Assets
Helium Ventures originally set out to build a global portfolio of helium exploration assets, banking on rising demand for the noble gas amid structural supply constraints. Its former leadership, including geoscientist Neil Ritson, emphasised decarbonisation trends and the strategic importance of helium in sectors such as medical imaging, fibre optics, and aerospace. Despite these ambitions, the company did not reach material operational milestones, and commercial momentum in the helium portfolio remained limited.
In mid-2024, Helium Ventures began repositioning itself toward a new strategic direction. This transition culminated in a shareholder-approved rebrand to Vaultz Capital, announced on 23 June 2025, which also marked its formal pivot into digital assets. The shift was accompanied by a corporate update confirming that the company would begin deploying capital into Bitcoin as a primary treasury asset. Just one day later later, the company disclosed its first digital asset activity with a Bitcoin purchase and treasury update, outlining its intention to manage reserves through direct Bitcoin holdings. “While the Company also maintains a Bitcoin treasury policy, its primary business is operational in nature, centred around infrastructure participation within the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
This initiative includes investment in mining hardware and energy infrastructure, with a stated goal of becoming one of the few UK-listed vehicles to operate both sides of the digital asset stack.
The rationale behind the pivot was grounded in the belief that Bitcoin represents a new kind of scarcity: decentralised, transparent, and programmable, with growing appeal to institutions. While helium remains a strategic resource, its market narrative is rooted in physical logistics and long-cycle project development. Vaultz, by contrast, has opted to focus on digital infrastructure and treasury management, where capital deployment and value recognition can be more immediate and scalable.
That said, Vaultz has not completely exited the helium sector. The company maintains a small equity holding in Blue Star Helium, an ASX-listed explorer with U.S. helium assets. The holding, estimated at less than 0.5% of Blue Star’s issued capital, provides residual exposure to helium without any direct operational involvement. While symbolic of the company’s legacy positioning, this stake is dwarfed by Vaultz’s active focus on Bitcoin and its strategic move toward mining infrastructure. For investors, the message is clear: Vaultz Capital is now a digital asset business, and its helium past plays only a background role in a rapidly evolving, crypto-centric identity.
A Bitcoin Treasury in Public Markets
Vaultz Capital’s core strategy now mirrors that of well-known U.S. players like MicroStrategy, but at a much smaller scale. In recent months, the company disclosed several Bitcoin acquisitions, bringing its total holdings to 70 BTC. These purchases are backed by investor capital raised earlier in the year and form the nucleus of Vaultz’s asset base. While modest in absolute terms, c.$8.3m at the time of writing, the holdings represent a material part of the company’s balance sheet and are likely to grow with future raises.
The company has made no secret of its ambition to position itself as a credible Bitcoin treasury vehicle rather than a short-term crypto speculation. The board has highlighted themes such as treasury strength, long-term digital asset allocation, and alignment with emerging trends in corporate adoption. For UK-based investors interested in gaining Bitcoin exposure without managing private keys or using offshore trading platforms, Vaultz presents a listed, regulated alternative that mirrors institutional strategies seen in markets like the U.S.
That said, the broader question remains whether retail investors seeking to benefit from price appreciation in digital assets necessarily require a small-cap proxy vehicle at all, given the growing accessibility of direct Bitcoin ownership.
Mining as Strategic Expansion or Execution Risk
Vaultz Capital has now commenced Bitcoin mining activity, but at a scale and structure that remains modest. The company confirmed it had secured access to 20 petahashes per second (PH/s) of cloud-based hashrate, equivalent to around 200 mining units, and has begun contributing to the Bitcoin network. This hashrate does not reflect ownership of physical infrastructure but rather leased or hosted access via third-party providers. The company framed this as an initial step toward building a scalable and revenue-generating presence in the digital asset infrastructure space.
Vaultz Capital’s Bitcoin mining setup is small compared to the global network. With the amount of mining power it has leased, about 20 PH/s, it is expected to earn only around 0.3 Bitcoin per month. That is roughly one tenth of a Bitcoin per week, and that estimate does not yet factor in fees, downtime, or changes in the market.
At the July 2025 Bitcoin price of around $118,000, the value of the Bitcoin mined would be close to $35,600. That leaves a small profit at best, and in some cases, it may only just cover costs.
With most of the world’s Bitcoin already mined and competition increasing, small mining operations like this may struggle to make meaningful profits. Right now, Vaultz’s mining efforts seem more like a test run than a major business move. Unless the company grows this side of the business or secures cheaper deals, it is unlikely to become a significant source of revenue. Investors should watch closely to see how this develops.
That said, and although the timing may be debatable, as with all Bitcoin treasury companies, the core investment question is binary: do you believe the price of Bitcoin will continue to rise? If so, Vaultz is effectively a listed, leveraged bet on that outcome.
Governance, Capital, and Investor Alignment
As part of its strategic shift, Vaultz Capital has also made changes to its leadership. On 7th June 2025, the company announced the resignation of former Chair Neil Ritson, who had been closely associated with the company’s earlier focus on helium exploration. This departure marked a symbolic break from the past. Vaultz is now led by CEO Alex Appleton, who has overseen the pivot toward Bitcoin and digital infrastructure. This repositioning may help build credibility with investors focused on the crypto space, although it may also prompt some legacy shareholders to reassess their alignment with the company’s new direction.
Vaultz Capital remains thinly capitalised and continues to rely on fresh funding to support its growth. On 19 June 2025, the company announced plans to raise at least £2 million by issuing new shares at 0.43p each, setting the stage for its strategic pivot. Just a day later, on 20 June, it confirmed the raise had been oversubscribed, successfully securing £4 million through the issue of 9,302,326 shares at the same price.
On 1 July, Vaultz launched a WRAP Retail Offer and additional placing at 1.55p per share to raise up to £0.5 million. The following day, it confirmed the raise had closed successfully at £1 million, with 6,451,613 new shares issued.
Together, these back-to-back fundraises have provided working capital to fuel Vaultz’s Bitcoin treasury purchases and early mining infrastructure. But they have also diluted existing shareholders, and with limited revenue generation, future dilution remains a clear risk.
Even so, Vaultz offers a simplified, single-thesis model that may resonate with investors seeking direct Bitcoin exposure via a listed UK entity. Unlike many microcaps still struggling to articulate a revenue plan, Vaultz presents a cleaner narrative, one that depends not on speculative exploration or multi-asset sprawl, but on the price of Bitcoin and access to capital.
Risks, Uncertainties, and Retail Considerations
Vaultz Capital remains a highly speculative investment. Its valuation is tightly tethered to the price of Bitcoin, a volatile asset influenced by macroeconomic shifts, regulatory developments, and market sentiment. This correlation was laid bare in June 2025, when Vaultz’s Bitcoin treasury announcement sent the share price surging from 3.25p on 12th June to an intraday high of 53p on 23rd June. That rally proved short-lived. At the time of writing, the share price had retraced sharply to 9.25p, reflecting the thin trading volumes and speculative nature of the move.
Despite no recurring revenues or operating profitability of note, Vaultz still commands a market capitalisation of nearly £12 million. Its primary asset is a $9.3 million (£6.9 million) Bitcoin holding, with no operating cash flow to offset market drawdowns or fund expansion. This means shareholders are ultimately exposed to a single binary outcome: whether Bitcoin rises or falls.
Execution risk also looms large. The shift from helium exploration to digital assets may appeal strategically, but brings fresh challenges, from setting up compliant mining infrastructure to managing digital custody and navigating evolving UK regulation. The company’s AQSE listing adds another layer of uncertainty, with limited institutional coverage and trading liquidity likely to amplify price volatility during broader risk-off moves.
Yet for retail investors comfortable with these dynamics, Vaultz offers rare asymmetric exposure. It is one of the few UK-listed microcaps operating a pure Bitcoin strategy, a structure that could attract fresh interest if digital asset adoption grows in Europe. In essence, Vaultz is a leveraged equity vehicle for those who believe Bitcoin is still in the early stages of long-term institutional acceptance.
Final Thoughts: An Institutional Crypto Bet, Reborn from AIM
Vaultz Capital’s journey from helium hopeful to Bitcoin-focused microcap is far from over. The company has made clear its strategic direction and taken initial steps to align its treasury and narrative with crypto market realities. For retail investors seeking exposure to Bitcoin in a listed UK vehicle, Vaultz may offer a unique, albeit risky, option.
The upside case hinges on successful treasury expansion, operational execution in mining, and continued crypto market strength. The downside risks, dilution, regulatory complexity, execution missteps, are very real. Still, Vaultz has put itself on the map with a strategy that reflects global digital asset trends. In a small-cap market often short on vision, that alone makes it one to watch.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this article represents the views and analysis of the author and is provided for informational purposes only. It should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or legal advice. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult a qualified adviser before making investment decisions. Investing in AIM-listed companies involves risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results.
