Metaplanet, a publicly-traded investment and consulting firm based in Japan, is expanding its investment in Bitcoin despite a decline in BTC prices by injecting additional funds into purchasing the cryptocurrency.
On July 7, Metaplanet officially announced its latest Bitcoin acquisition, purchasing 42,466 bitcoins for 400 million Japanese yen ($2.5 million).
With this purchase, Metaplanet now holds a total of 203,734 BTC, which were bought at an average price of approximately 10 million yen ($62,000) per coin. The average purchase price is approximately 7% higher than the current price of BTC.
Metaplanet initially entered the Bitcoin market in April 2024, making a significant move by adopting Bitcoin as a treasury asset and investing $6.5 million in its first batch of the cryptocurrency. The company received support for this decision from prominent industry figures such as Mark Yusko, the founder of Morgan Creek Capital, Jack Liu, a founding member of Ordiswap, and companies like Sora Ventures and UTXO Management.
Metaplanet has been compared to “Asia’s MicroStrategy” due to its aggressive Bitcoin purchasing strategy, which echoes MicroStrategy’s entry into the Bitcoin market in 2020. MicroStrategy began acquiring Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and an alternative to holding cash. As of June 24, MicroStrategy had accumulated at least 226,331 Bitcoin, which cost the company $7.538 billion, or $35,158 per BTC.
Metaplanet’s foray into Bitcoin has had a significant impact on the company’s market performance. The announcement of their Bitcoin investment caused the company’s stock price to surge by approximately 90%. However, the price of Metaplanet’s shares plummeted following a substantial drop in the Bitcoin price.
Since reaching its peak at 107 yen ($0.66) on June 11, Metaplanet’s stock has declined by 25% as Bitcoin dropped from around $70,000 to below $60,000.
Despite this decline, the company’s stock is currently trading at 80 yen ($0.5), which is still 344% higher than its value at the beginning of 2024.
In late June, Metaplanet announced its plan to issue 1 billion yen ($6.26 million) worth of bonds to raise funds for further Bitcoin purchases. This move is similar to the convertible note raises repeatedly announced by MicroStrategy in 2024 to increase their Bitcoin investments.