Baillie Gifford has become the biggest outside shareholder in Blockchain.com with the investment, part of a $300m funding round that valued the London-based company at $5.2bn.

The asset manager has been an early supporter of Silicon Valley firms such as Google, Tesla and Airbnb but its support for Blockchain.com, a service that lets users buy and store cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, signified its largest push into digital currencies to date.

Institutional money flowing into cryptocurrencies has been partly credited with Bitcoin’s growth from less than $7,000 a year ago to around $55,000 today, however, some major investors are seeking to benefit from the trend further by investing in companies providing cryptocurrency services.

Last week, the online exchange Coinbase was valued at as much as $100bn when it became the biggest cryptocurrency company to go public in New York, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Blockchain.com, which was founded after a split between co-founder Ben Reeves and Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong, had previously announced the funding round but had not disclosed Baillie Gifford’s involvement.

Peter Smith, Blockchain.com’s chief executive, said that the company expects to go public at some point, but that it had seen a surplus of interest from private investors, with orders of $900m – three times what it raised.

He said: “We want to do it when the moment’s right for us, and we’re figuring out when that is.”

However, he declined to comment on whether any float might take place in London or New York.

Mr Smith also voiced his support to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plan for a digital pound announced earlier this week. The Chancellor said the Treasury and Bank of England would explore a central bank digital currency, which he dubbed “Britcoin”.

Mr Smith said “You’ll be able to get any major asset ‘on chain’ five years from now,” referring to the blockchain database technology that powers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.