Metaplanet Shares Soar as Japanese Firm Mimics MicroStrategy on Bitcoin Buying

Metaplanet (3350), a Web3 infrastructure provider, saw its Tokyo-listed stock rise almost 90% in two days after saying it was adding $6.56 million in bitcoin (BTC) to its balance sheet in partnership with Sora Ventures, Morgan Creek Capital's Mark Yusko and others.

The company, which started as a budget hotel operator under the name Red Planet before becoming a Web3 software developer, said it is looking to minimize its exposure to the Japanese yen.

The yen, the company wrote in an update to shareholders, has been damaged by Japan's generation-long low-interest-rate environment that has eroded its position as a key global currency. In March, the central bank increased short-term interest rates to 0-0.1% from minus 0.1%, the first increase in the rate for 17 years.

"The Company’s decision to incorporate Bitcoin into its treasury assets is driven by a multifaceted understanding of its potential as a hedge against inflation, a tool for macroeconomic resilience, and a basis for long-term capital appreciation," it wrote.

The strategy also mimics that of Tysons Corner, Virginia-based MicroStrategy, the software developer that in 2020 said it would start building up its holdings of bitcoin. Since then, its stock price has often mirrored the fluctuations in bitcoin's price, reflecting investor sentiment toward the cryptocurrency market. It is now the largest corporate owner of bitcoin, according to bitcointreasuries.net, holding more than 214,000 valued at more than $15 billion.

In a post on X, Jason Fang, managing partner and co-founder at Sora Ventures, which participated in the partnership to add bitcoin to Metaplanet's balance sheet, highlighted it as a way for Japanese investors to get exposure to crypto through a publicly traded company instead of holding the asset itself, which is subject to a high tax on unrealized crypto gains.

This tax is controversial and has been debated and modified by lawmakers since it was first introduced. In June 2023, Japan's National Tax Agency announced that tokens issued by crypto startups would be exempt from the rules.

Bitcoin is currently trading around $70,500, according to CoinDesk Indices data.