‘Asia’s MicroStrategy’ Metaplanet purchases additional Bitcoin worth 250 million yen

Metaplanet, a long-standing Japanese hotel and service provider, announced that it had purchased an additional 250 million yen ($1.8 million) worth of Bitcoin from X. The purchase comes as Metaplanet mimics MicroStrategy’s well-known corporate Bitcoin accumulation strategy.

JUST IN: 🇯🇵 Additional purchase of 23.35 from Japanese public company Metaplanet #Bitcoin Worth $1.6 million 🚀 pic.twitter.com/TdUcX2TQjG

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 11, 2024

As of June 11, Metaplanet holds approximately 141 bitcoins, acquired for 1.45 billion yen, at an average price of 10,278,391 yen ($65,000) per bitcoin. The company adopted Bitcoin as its treasury reserve asset with an initial 1 billion yen purchase in April 2024. I have purchased it several times since then.

Metaplanet’s stock price rose 10% following its recent million-dollar Bitcoin acquisition, its third acquisition in just seven weeks. The company’s stock price has risen nearly five-fold since it first announced its Bitcoin strategy in April, validating a Bitcoin pivot.

Metaplanet aims to accumulate Bitcoin to hedge Japan’s massive national debt burden and rapidly devalue the yen. The company is closely following MicroStrategy’s influential Bitcoin Corporate Finance Playbook.

For Japanese investors, owning Metaplanet shares provides exposure to Bitcoin’s upside without incurring Japanese taxes on unrealized gains in the cryptocurrency, which can exceed 50%. Metaplanet also provides access to Bitcoin without regulatory hurdles by trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The acceptance of Bitcoin by Asia-based public companies such as Metaplanet legitimizes Bitcoin as a solid treasury reserve asset. Now, businesses across the continent are realizing Bitcoin’s promise as an inflation hedge and storing assets of value on their balance sheets.