Metaplanet Emerges as Top Gainer in Japanese Stocks After Adding Bitcoin to Reserves

Investment firm Metaplanet has experienced a remarkable surge in its shares, skyrocketing 158% over the past week and emerging as the highest gainer among all Japanese stocks.

The company’s share price currently stands at 93 Japanese yen, experiencing a staggering 127% increase in just two days.

The rapid growth even triggered the Tokyo Stock Exchange to activate a circuit breaker trading halt on multiple occasions within the past week. 

With a market cap of nearly $1 billion (14.8 billion Japanese yen), Metaplanet is making significant waves in the financial market.

Metaplanet Follows the Footsteps of MicroStrategy

This success can be attributed to the company’s adoption of a strategy similar to that of MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.

Since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8, Metaplanet has accumulated 117.7 Bitcoin, currently valued at $7.2 million. Consequently, its stock has surged by 389%.

In a statement issued on May 13, Metaplanet revealed its intention to employ a range of capital market instruments strategically to bolster its Bitcoin reserves, mirroring MicroStrategy’s approach.

The firm cited the need to hedge against Japan’s mounting debt burden and the rapid depreciation of the Japanese yen.

Japan holds the unfortunate distinction of having the worst debt-to-GDP ratio among developed countries, currently standing at 261%.

Additionally, the Japanese yen has depreciated by over 34% against the United States dollar since the beginning of 2021.

Metaplanet views its Bitcoin investment strategy as a direct response to these economic pressures.

While Metaplanet is currently only available for trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, limiting access to U.S. investors, there are plans underway to tokenize its shares on the Bitcoin layer-2 network Liquid.

Arnab Naskar, one of the founders of security token platform STOKR, has expressed intentions to tokenize Metaplanet shares, following a similar approach used to tokenize MicroStrategy stock.

Last month, Metaplanet revealed its decision to incorporate Bitcoin into its treasury assets due to several factors. 

Firstly, it aims to minimize its exposure to the Japanese yen, which has been significantly impacted by Japan’s low-interest-rate environment.

In a shareholder update, Metaplanet expressed concern about the yen’s vulnerability and highlighted Bitcoin’s potential as a hedge against inflation, a tool for macroeconomic resilience, and a source of long-term capital appreciation.

Corporate Bitcoin Holders Start to Reap Rewards

A number of major corporate investors in Bitcoin, including Microstrategy, have already seen their profits skyrocket.

As per data aggregated by Saylortracker, at current market prices of around $65,000, MicroStrategy’s position now commands a total valuation exceeding $12.57 billion.

This means the company sits on tremendous unrealized profits of almost $6.5 billion on paper – reflecting a gain of almost 104% yield-to-date from an investment allocation started under Saylor back in 2020.

As of now, Bitcoin is trading at around $69,000, down by more than 3% over the past day.

The leading cryptocurrency is 5% away from its all-time high of $73,750 registered on March 14.

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