Bitcoin
Japanese Bitcoin Stock Metaplanet Is Crashing the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Metaplanet Inc. — known as “Japan’s MicroStrategy” on Crypto Twitter — has outperformed every other company on the Japanese stock market since the start of the week.
Over the past two days, Metaplanet shares have risen 50% in value, going from 41 JPY on Monday to close to 90 JPY on Wednesday. There are two consecutive trading sessions for Metaplanet reaching its maximum daily gains, as imposed by the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).
Following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, Metaplanet’s new primary corporate goal is to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible.
“We believe this is the most valuable thing we can do for our shareholders,” Metaplanet Director of Bitcoin Strategy Dylan LeClair told Decrypt. “We will explore various options to acquire additional Bitcoin, including any opportunities present in the capital markets that we consider accretive.”
One of these opportunities, announced on Monday, includes increasing the number of authorized shares by 300%, a tactic already used several times by MicroStrategy. New share sales allow the company to raise money to accumulate more Bitcoin, turning Metaplanet into a makeshift Bitcoin ETF for Japanese investors – but without fees.
“We plan to continue buying Bitcoin, regardless of short-term currency fluctuations, given the absolute scarcity of the asset; a stark contrast to the reality of the perpetual weakening of political currencies,” LeClair added.
Bitcoin rose 193% against the JPY last year, reaching a new all-time high against the rapidly depreciating currency on Monday.
As with MicroStrategy in August 2020, Metaplanet shares immediately exploded after announcing its Bitcoin treasury strategy last month, with its market value rising from 2 billion yen (about $13 million) in early April to 14.63 billion yen (about $93.4 million) today.
“When it comes to Metaplanet, as with Bitcoin, the best strategy is [to] just buy it,” Mark Yusko, CEO and CIO of Morgan Creek Capital, tweeted on Wednesday. Yusko is part of the Metaplanet Board of Directors.
Currently, Metaplanet is only available on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, preventing access to investors in the United States. However, Arnab Naskar – co-founder of STOKR, who recently helped tokenize MSTR shares on the Liquid network – recently expressed interest in doing the same with Metaplanet, which could expand its access to crypto users around the world.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.