'I miss my bra firm but now I'll make MONEY': Lady Mone leaves lingerie to become Baroness Blockchain

By Neil Craven, Financial Mail on Sunday

Updated:

Lady Mone made her fortune selling lingerie. 

But, after striking up a new relationship with a millionaire property mogul, the woman sometimes dubbed Baroness Bra is going into digital currency – so she might in future be known as Baroness Blockchain.

'I believe,' she says, glancing intently at her boyfriend, fellow Glaswegian Doug Barrowman, 'that Bitcoin's going to go fsshhhhhh,' making a whoosh noise like a rocket taking off, and drawing a steep upward line on an imaginary graph with her finger.

The three of us are sitting in a cosy bar in London's Dorchester Hotel discussing Brexit, business and the financial opportunities presented by so-called cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

NEW MONEY: Michelle Mone, pictured, and her boyfriend Doug Barrowman  believe cryptocurrencies are the way forward

NEW MONEY: Michelle Mone, pictured, and her boyfriend Doug Barrowman  believe cryptocurrencies are the way forward

'What did you say, $100,000 a Bitcoin?' she asks Barrowman. The currency almost hit $20,000 late last year, but has since fallen to around $8,600.

'Yeah, I mean, it's obviously had a setback. But that's just the volatility from the speculators. The fundamentals are still...still good,' he insists.

Cryptocurrency is an issue that has split the financial world down the middle, with fans believing it will revolutionise payments and make them a fortune, while critics see it as a haven for dirty money and an easy way for the unwary to lose their shirts.

Mone and Barrowman are firmly in the former camp. So much so that they have launched a new cryptocurrency venture together called Equi.

It's yet another string to her bow: she is no longer involved with Ultimo, the lingerie firm where she made her name, but she owns tanning firm Utan and her own luxury interiors company. 

She is also working on a new lingerie project that will 'change the way that bras are made'. 

On top of all that, she sits in the House of Lords, having been elevated to the peerage in 2015, laying the groundwork for Brexit.

Leaving the EU will disrupt the economy, she says. 'It's going to be really unsettled for at least five to seven years. I voted to remain because of that. But we are where we are.'

Mone has spoken of how her poverty-stricken childhood in Glasgow's East End fuelled her determination to succeed in business and gave her 'balls of steel'.

That attitude is apparent when she talks about the Presidents Club men-only charity dinner – where waitresses were told what to wear right down to the colour of their underwear. 

The event took place near where we are sitting a few weeks ago and has become a byword for City sleaze, with allegations that some women were groped.

'If I was assaulted, if someone grabbed my...then I know what I would do. And the guy wouldn't like it. I've dealt with it all my life,' she adds with a slight air of resignation. 

She acknowledges, however, that not all women feel able to take such a robust approach. 'I support women. Full-stop,' she adds.

Doug Barrowman, pictured, and Michelle Mone have recently launched a new cryptocurrency venture together called Equi

Doug Barrowman, pictured, and Michelle Mone have recently launched a new cryptocurrency venture together called Equi

Mone, 45, who is dressed immaculately with salon-perfect hair, became well-known as the public face of her lingerie brand Ultimo, which she sold in 2014 after building up the business over two decades. 

'As a child, I never wanted to be famous. I never wanted to be a famous singer, actor, model or a famous anything. But it just organically grew that way,' she says.

Having split up with her former husband Michael Mone in 2011, she and Doug have set up home in a £120 million mansion on the Isle of Man – complete with a helipad, swimming pool and a circular, mirrored home gym. 

The couple own a fleet of cars, including a Bentley and, reputedly, five Ferraris.

But she says: 'Doug knows me. I'm very, very private. I do have the Instagram, I do have the Twitter. But they don't get fed what my life is really like. It's snippets here and there,' she says.

Since she parted ways with Ultimo, the business has been losing money and she says she has been asked to go back. 'I miss it all the time but I've decided to do my own thing,' she says of her new venture. 'It will be amazing if it comes off,' she says with a nervous-sounding laugh.

Unlike his consort, Barrowman, 52, was virtually unknown outside investment circles until he allowed his £20 million superyacht Turquoise to be used in a TV drama, in which he made a brief personal appearance.

The pair, who kept their relationship quiet for months 'probably to protect Doug,' grew up three miles apart in Glasgow. 

'He was from a posher side,' she says – 'but still pretty ordinary', he counters. 

The pair, who met because they are both investors in a tech firm called WeShop, have been together for 18 months.

They have seven children between them from their previous marriages and relax by binge-watching episodes of the hit US TV show Breaking Bad. 

'I never used to relax and since I met Doug I find it easier now,' Michelle says, sidestepping a question about whether marriage is on the cards.

Last year, they launched a £192 million property sale in Dubai. She says one tower of the development – almost 700 apartments, including 50 marketed in Bitcoin – have already been sold. 

On March 1 they will launch Equi – a cryptocurrency venture she describes as 'Doug's baby', although both will sit on the board alongside other tech investors.

It sounds like a cross between cryptocurrency and crowd-funding. The idea is that people buy the currency – called Equi tokens – which they can then invest in hand-picked start-up firms that will be showcased on the platform. 

They will then receive a percentage of the profits if fledgling firms are sold at a profit or if their Equi currency climbs and they decide to sell.

'What I love about this is that we're going to help tomorrow's superstars,' says Mone, though by its nature, investing in start-up firms is risky.

She adds that the business people using the platform will be able to tap into the expertise of the board, including herself and Barrowman.

'Being an entrepreneur is a very lonely world. If you've got this board of highly successful people – that's quite special,' she say.

She says 'blockchain technology', the technology on which cryptocurrency is based, is 'quite scary. But its going to take over the world'.

Crypto clues – the mysteries of Bitcoin 

21 MILLION: The number of single Bitcoins. Nearly 17 million have so far been discovered, or 'mined', meaning 4 million are still up for grabs.

SATOSHI NAKAMOTO: The reputed name of Bitcoin's founder, whose real identity is unknown. Last year, Elon Musk – the eccentric billionaire who last week launched a car into space on a rocket – was forced to deny a rumour that he was Nakamoto.

$20,000: The peak value of a single Bitcoin, after soaring from $800 early last year. Its value has now dropped back to around $8,600 (£6,200).

QATAR: An estimated 36 terawatt hours of energy were used by Bitcoin miners last year, unlocking the cryptocurrency with power hungry computers. That's as much energy as the entire country of Qatar.

CRIME: Paying with the digital currency is illegal in eight countries – Algeria, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and Cambodia.

PAYOUTS: Last month there were 2,008 Bitcoin ATMs globally.

 

 

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