As a researcher with a keen interest in the digital economy, I find this recent move by Metaplanet Inc. particularly intriguing. Having closely followed the Bitcoin market for several years now, it’s clear that Japan is becoming a significant player in this space.


Metaplanet Inc., a Japanese investment company, has revealed that they have purchased an extra 38,464 Bitcoins, worth approximately 300 million Japanese yen or around $2 million USD. With this new purchase, their total Bitcoin holdings now stand at about 398,832 BTC, which is equivalent to a value of roughly 3.75 billion yen or $26 million USD.

Following the report, shares of Metaplanet saw an uptick by 4.42% in Japan. As per Yahoo Finance, the stock recently traded at around 1,086 yen, with its highest point during today’s session reaching approximately 2,000 yen. The Nikkei 225 index only showed a modest increase of 0.02% for Metaplanet stocks, indicating a relatively stable profitability level throughout the period.

Metaplanet to Use 299.7 Million Yen from Stock Rights for More Bitcoin

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed Metaplanet significantly growing its Bitcoin holdings over the past few months. In early May, they announced a strategic move to integrate Bitcoins into their reserve business model. This decision was driven by the persistent economic challenges in Japan, such as high national debt, persistently low real interest rates, and a weakening yen.

Metaplanet announced its intention to utilize the earnings from its 11th round of stock purchases, specifically 299.7 million yen, towards a future Bitcoin investment. The company emphasized that these funds would be allocated for strategic Bitcoin acquisitions, made at their discretion.

Furthermore, Metaplanet entered into an agreement last week with SBI VC Trade, a financial offshoot of Japan’s SBI group. This partnership will provide Metaplanet with a compliant corporate custody service, which is tax-efficient and can be funded using bitcoins.

Speaking of the bigger picture, MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor, remains the largest corporate holder of BTC, with 226,500 coins. Marathon Digital is the second largest institutional owner of Bitcoin, with 25,000 bitcoins.

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2024-09-11 14:21