By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 29th, 2024
By buying Bitcoin, Metaplanet now joins a long line of publicly listed companies using BTC to maximize shareholder value.
Metaplanet, a Web3 infrastructure provider, has seen a massive 90% surge in its Tokyo-listed stock in just 48 hours. The development comes barely two days after it announced acquiring $6.56 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC). At the time, the firm claimed that the acquisition was an effort toward reducing its exposure to the Japanese yen while also establishing its position as a forerunner in the adoption of digital assets in Japan. However, the endeavor is now proving to have far-reaching effects even beyond its initial plans. Meanwhile, Metaplanet acquired the latest Bitcoin (BTC) in quite a unique way and had the support of Sora Ventures, Morgan Creek Capital’s Mark Yusko, and others.
It added Bitcoin to its balance sheet in a way that would offer Japanese investors exposure to crypto through a publicly traded company instead of holding the asset itself. The implication of that is that investors would not be subject to high taxes on unrealized crypto gains.
Metaplanet Shares Soar
Recently, Bloomberg reported on how MicroStrategy recently added some more Bitcoin to its portfolio, causing an almost instantaneous rise in its stock price. While this is a strategy that MicroStrategy has been using since 2020, it appears that Metaplanet may have just employed the same strategy. As of publication, Metaplanet Inc. is up 89.47% in the past 24 hours and is currently valued at 36 Japanese yen. That is according to data available on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
By buying Bitcoin, Metaplanet now joins a long line of publicly listed companies using Bitcoin to maximize shareholder value. While MicroStrategy may have set the pace by pioneering the model and proving its effectiveness on several occasions, more institutional adoption is looking more likely.
For Metaplanet, Bitcoin does not only offer investment gains but has implications extending to the crypto industry at large.
The announcement is also a testament to the growing relevance of Bitcoin in the Asian region. Metaplanet is giving investors a regulation-compliant path to gain exposure to BTC. If all augurs well, it can only be expected that public companies in the region will follow in the footsteps of Metaplanet.