Metaplanet, a Japanese publicly listed company, Another 500 million yen was purchased. ($3.7 million) in bitcoin. The latest purchase comes after the company took out a 1 billion yen loan last week to buy bitcoin.
BREAKING: 🇯🇵 Japanese public company Metaplanet buys another 500 million yen worth of shares #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/utiXEwsymM
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 20, 2024
Metaplanet bought 57,273 bitcoins at an average price of 8.73 million yen per bitcoin, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 360,368 bitcoins purchased for 3.45 billion yen ($25.6 million).
Metaplanet first announced its plans to raise 10.08 billion yen through a public offering to fund bitcoin purchases on August 6. A week later, it took out a 1 billion yen loan to buy bitcoin, which it has now used to buy more than 100 bitcoins so far.
The Japanese firm is aggressively expanding its bitcoin reserves by borrowing capital at low interest rates. This mimics the “bitcoin buying strategy” of MicroStrategy, which has sold debt and equity since 2020 to accumulate more than 226,500 bitcoins from its treasury.
Other bitcoin buyers who have recently raised capital include Marathon Digital Holdings, which sold $300 million in convertible notes to buy bitcoin. Semler Scientific also issued equity and debt in part to buy bitcoin.
Metaplanet’s series of loans and equity offerings to fund bitcoin purchases illustrates how public companies are exploiting markets to accumulate cryptocurrencies. As bitcoin gains widespread adoption, companies are treating it as a treasury reserve asset.
Disclaimer: Bitcoin Magazine is wholly owned by BTC Inc., which also operates UTXO Managementa dedicated capital allocation entity focused on the digital asset industry and invested in Metaplanet. UTXO invests in a variety of Bitcoin businesses, and holds significant stakes in digital assets.