Metaplanet, an investment and consulting firm based in Tokyo, has announced its plans to issue 1 billion yen ($6.26 million) worth of bonds in order to raise funds for the purchase of Bitcoin. The company stated that the Bitcoin would be held for the long term. The bonds will offer an annual interest rate of 0.5%.
Following this news, Metaplanet’s shares experienced an 11.5% increase on Monday, reaching a trading price of 96 yen ($0.60). This continues the significant growth the company’s stock price has seen this year, with a gain of over 500%.
On Monday, after the lunch break, Metaplanet’s stock price reached a peak of 104 yen ($0.65).
In contrast, Bitcoin has recently reached a low point that it hasn’t seen in over 40 days. The cryptocurrency has fallen by 2.6% in the past day, currently priced at $62,733. In early June, it had briefly reached $72,000, according to data from CoinGecko.
If Metaplanet were to purchase 1 billion yen worth of Bitcoin today, they would receive approximately 99.84 BTC.
This planned purchase would add to Metaplanet’s existing cryptocurrency holdings, which currently stand at 141.07 BTC. On June 11, the company announced that it had acquired 23.25 BTC. In mid-May, it made its initial purchase of 117 BTC, citing the adoption of a “Bitcoin-first, Bitcoin-only approach” as a response to economic pressures in Japan.
In its most recent holdings report in June, Metaplanet stated that its average purchase price for Bitcoin was 10.28 million yen ($65,365), which means that its current strategy is currently underwater.
Metaplanet’s Bitcoin purchases and the subsequent increase in its share price have drawn comparisons to MicroStrategy, a US software company that holds the record for the most Bitcoin holdings among public companies, with 214,400 BTC valued at $13.4 billion, according to Bitbo data.