Japan’s Metaplanet Stock Skyrockets 158% After Adopting Bitcoin Strategy

Metaplanet, a company in Japan known as “Japan's MicroStrategy” on Crypto Twitter, has seen its shares rise 158% over the past week.

Subsequently, stock trading was halted for two consecutive days. Meanwhile, the company is now the top gainer among Japanese stocks.

Metaplanet's Bitcoin strategy is paying off

Metaplanet has gained attention for its strategy, which has been likened to MicroStrategy. It is worth noting that the latter is the largest holder of Bitcoin. Metaplanet, on the other hand, has shifted its goal to accumulating more Bitcoin over time.

Metaplanet's stock price is 93 JPY, up from 41 at Monday's close, up 127%. The stock is currently on the verge of reaching a market cap of $1 billion.

Tokyo Stock Exchange rules stipulate that stocks listed with a share price below 100 yen can increase by a maximum of 30 yen per day. Metaplanet managed to cross this two days in a row.

Metaplanet was halted at a maximum daily profit of +30 yen (+50%), and for the second day in a row, it is the best performing stock in Japan. 🇯🇵#TSE3350 $ Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Y9F8IAsyyR

– Dylan LeClair 🟠 (@DylanLeClair_) May 22, 2024

Metaplanet on Monday announced an initiative to help them accumulate more Bitcoin. This step included increasing the number of authorized shares by 300%.

This strategy, which MicroStrategy has previously used several times, enables the company to generate cash through new stock sales. The capital raised will be used to purchase additional Bitcoin, effectively turning Metaplanet into a de facto Bitcoin ETF for Japanese investors, but without any associated fees.

Metaplanet moves to address Japan's economic challenges

Since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8, the company has acquired 117.7 BTC, currently worth $7.2 million. Similar to MicroStrategy's experience in August 2020, Metaplanet stock soared following the announcement, currently up 389%.

Metaplanet revealed in a statement on May 13 that it intends to use “a full range of capital market instruments to boost its Bitcoin reserves,” much like MicroStrategy’s plan.

The company attributed its investment strategy in Bitcoin to concerns about Japan's rising debt burden and the rapid decline in the value of the yen. Metaplanet added that Japan's debt-to-GDP ratio of 261% is the highest among developed countries. In addition, the yen has depreciated by more than 34% against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has appreciated by about 190% against the Japanese yen in the past year.

Metaplanet is currently listed exclusively on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, limiting access for U.S. investors. However, Arnab Naskar, one of the founders of security token platform STOKR, recently Announce Plans to tokenize Metaplanet stock on the Bitcoin Layer-2 Liquid network. This approach would be similar to how STOKR previously tokenized MicroStrategy shares.