Metaplanet, an investment firm specializing in Bitcoin stacking, has made another significant purchase of 21.88 Bitcoin, amounting to over $1.2 million (200 million Japanese yen). This move comes amidst the recent Bitcoin rally, which has pushed prices close to $65,000.
According to a statement released on July 16th, Metaplanet now holds a total of 225.6 Bitcoin, valued at $14.6 million. This recent purchase, combined with Bitcoin’s 4.4% price increase in the past 24 hours, has led to a surge in Metaplanet’s share prices. In fact, the company’s shares have risen by 25.8% to reach $0.74 (117 yen) in the first two and a half hours of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 16th, according to data from Google Finance.
Metaplanet took advantage of a price dip earlier this month and acquired an additional 42.46 Bitcoin on July 7th for $2.5 million (400 million yen). Since unveiling its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 9th, 2024, the company’s stock price has skyrocketed nearly six-fold.
However, despite the significant increase in its stock price, Metaplanet has only seen a 2.8% gain on its Bitcoin holdings due to its average purchase price of $62,890.
CoinGecko ranks Metaplanet as the world’s 21st-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. It is worth noting that this ranking has not yet been updated to reflect Metaplanet’s latest Bitcoin purchase.
Metaplanet has earned the nickname “Asia’s MicroStrategy” due to its similar investment approach to MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor, in 2020. Like MicroStrategy, Metaplanet announced on May 13th that it would utilize various capital market instruments to strengthen its Bitcoin reserves.
This investment strategy was adopted by Metaplanet as a hedge against Japan’s worsening debt situation and the rapid depreciation of the Japanese yen. The yen has fallen by nearly 54% against the US dollar since January 2021, while Bitcoin has experienced a 145% increase against the yen over the past year.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $64,640, reflecting a 13.6% increase in the last week.
In other news, Singapore is deemed “not ready” for Bitcoin ETFs, and an individual has been caught importing crypto mining rigs illegally, as reported by Asia Express magazine.