Tokyo-based Metaplanet has just acquired another $6.5 million worth of Bitcoin to add 108.999 BTC to its ever-expanding hoard. This puts the group’s total BTC number at 748.502 BTC – quite a serious long-term investment in the cryptocurrency. Metaplanet has been accumulating its Bitcoin reserves since April 2024 and maintains the latest purchase is part of its ongoing strategy to buy more Bitcoin, having taken advantage of specific market conditions.
However, the thing to note here is that Metaplanet isn’t directly buying Bitcoin. It does this through a strategy whereby it sells put options with its purchases of the cryptocurrency. Put options give the company a right to sell Bitcoin at a specific price in the future. That means if Bitcoin’s price falls, Metaplanet is still able to sell at the higher price set in the option. According to Peter Chung of Presto Labs, the tactic reveals a layer of sophistication that is rare in companies buying up Bitcoin. In this way, it has enabled Metaplanet to potentially earn more from its investment in Bitcoin while reducing risk in case prices go down.
That places Metaplanet in a unique position among public companies, especially those in Asia, which have also started buying Bitcoin for their corporate treasuries. For instance, Nexon and Meitu are two of the other major regionals to do the same with the digital currency. But Metaplanet’s strategy deploys put options to give its strategy a layer of sophistication. According to Chung, the leadership views Bitcoin as part of its long-term strategy to deliver value to shareholders.
The timing of the most recent Metaplanet buys is interesting, too. It has taken advantage of the recent strength of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar. It buys Bitcoin when the yen is at a high level and thus gets more for the money. This could be one strategic move by the company to hedge its risks against short-term declines in the price of Bitcoin while it continues to build overall holdings.
This strategy has likened the firm to MicroStrategy of the United States, famous for holding a lot of Bitcoin. Like Metaplanet, it has taken Bitcoin in as an integral part of its corporate treasury. Indeed, when Metaplanet began buying Bitcoin at the beginning of the year, it even styled itself as “Asia’s answer to MicroStrategy.” It is in this comparison to MicroStrategy that best explains why Metaplanet seems keen on building its stockpile of Bitcoin. The same way that both companies share beliefs that holding Bitcoin will turn out to be a good investment in the long run.
The strong investments Metaplanet has made into Bitcoin are beginning to have an apparent effect on the movement of its stock. It surged from ¥190 to the peak of ¥1,008 after the company first announced its Bitcoin buying spree in April. That surge pretty much reflected how much investors have faith in the company’s strategy with Bitcoin. Since then, however, it has cooled down a bit and is sitting at around $6.40. Although the stock has come off its peak, it is still substantially higher than before the company began buying Bitcoin.
The aggressive Bitcoin buying spree by the company forms part of a broader trend of businesses investing in cryptocurrency as a means of diversifying their holdings. For example, Tesla made waves last year when it announced that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. Since then, Tesla has sold some of its Bitcoin to take profits, but the move marked a turning point for corporate adoption of cryptocurrencies. In another case, Square-which has since renamed itself Block Inc.-has also woven Bitcoin deeply into its strategy: it bought $50 million of the cryptocurrency in 2020, and another $170 million in 2021.
Companies like Metaplanet, Tesla, and Block are in good company in a growing legion of companies that look at Bitcoin as a fundamentally sound asset to hold for the future. Changes in the corporate mindset toward cryptocurrencies come at a time when more and more investors, especially the younger variety, are opting to place their money in digital assets instead of traditional stock-and-bond investments. A recent study by Charles Schwab shows that a whopping 62% of millennials are planning to invest in cryptocurrencies next year. That number is a pretty big turnaround compared to the older generation, which still tends to prefer stocks and bonds.
This is a trend that might just keep going and going, as millennials inherit more and more from their parents and grandparents. An estimated $84 trillion is set to be transferred over the coming decade, and nearly $20 trillion of that could flow into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This might be the perfect storm that dictates how future crypto markets will look: young people are way more interested in digital assets than physical ones.
Even financial giants like BlackRock started to pay more attention to the fact that Bitcoin moves upwards. This January, BlackRock, one of the biggest asset managers in the world, released a Bitcoin ETF despite its CEO, Larry Fink, having once called Bitcoin a money-laundering tool. For now, it has performed quite well and brought in $22 billion since the start. The implication of this is that even traditional financial players are starting to view Bitcoin as an asset class.
He even said that “Bitcoin” is one of the most searched terms on BlackRock’s website, further putting into light how interest in the cryptocurrency keeps growing. Fidelity, another huge asset manager, also joined the Bitcoin bandwagon by promoting blockchain education to the younger generation through social media platforms like TikTok and X. Fidelity has invested more than $10 billion in its Bitcoin ETF, making the company another big player in the growing market for crypto investments.
Such a decision by Metaplanet is clearly part of a wide trend, where companies and investors began using digital cryptocurrencies as a hedge against losses in value appreciation. In general, if more businesses and financial institutions are using Bitcoin, then the demand for the cryptocurrency will continue to surge. It is in the way Metaplanet uniquely combines buying Bitcoin with puts that may give it just the edge it needs to realize returns even in a bear market.
Much of this demand is being driven by millennials and younger investors who continue to choose cryptocurrencies over traditional assets. As the great wealth transfer unfolds over the next decade, that trend is likely to accelerate, with more money flowing into Bitcoin and other digital assets. That’s where Metaplanet is positioning itself for full advantage, betting big on Bitcoin being a key part of the financial future.
