From rugs to riches: UK carpet retailer to adopt Bitcoin Standard

cointelegraph.com:

An online carpet and flooring retailer based in the United Kingdom has bought Bitcoin (BTC) and put it on the balance sheet, following in the footsteps of Tesla, Microstrategy and Real Bedford. 

Speaking with Cointelegraph, CEO of Flooring Hut, Paul Brewster explained that:

He explained that the group decided against keeping their cash reserves in a bank account, as Bitcoin could provide the greatest potential for providing returns which ultimately delivers greater value for customers.

According to Companies House, the British Government agency that maintains the register of U.K. companies, Flooring Hut’s accounts from 2023 showed cash reserves of £75,105, which at time of writing could afford roughly 3.3 BTC.

Moreoever, the company is Bitcoin-only. Brewster explained that “Bitcoin is an asset class in its own right;” it is akin to a “digital gold.” While on a personal level Brewster and his colleagues have an interest in the wider cryptocurrency space, “We’re not going to be putting those on the balance sheet at Flooring Hut any time soon.”

Flooring Hut will not custody the coins with crypto companies such as Coinbase or the now-defunct FTX. Instead, the company will resist rug pulls and keep the Bitcoin in cold storage, Brewster added.

This bold decision by the online retailer operating in the £2 billion carpet industry is particularly surprising as it's one of the "very few sectors where the application of technology is has been severely lacking," Brewster explained.  The Financial Times, one of the United Kingdom’s most popular legacy finance publications was quick to take a swipe at Flooring Hut on its page Alphaville.

In the article, the FT explained that the Flooring Hut news “is obviously engineering the kind of