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

Metaplanet, a firm in Japan known as “Japan’s MicroStrategy” on Crypto Twitter, has seen its shares surge 158% over the last week.

Following this, trading stock came to a stop for two consecutive days. Meanwhile, the company is now in the lead among Japanese stocks as the highest gainer.

Metaplanet’s Bitcoin Strategy Pays Off

Metaplanet has gained attention due to its strategy, which has been likened to MicroStrategy’s. Notably, the latter is the largest Bitcoin corporate holder. Metaplanet, on the other hand, has shifted its goal to accumulating more Bitcoin over time.

Metaplanet share price is at 93 Japanese yen, up from 41 at Monday’s close, rising 127%. The stock is currently about to hit the $1 billion market cap.

TSE rules state that stocks that are listed with a share price lower than 100 yen can only increase a maximum of 30 yen daily. Metaplanet managed to cross this for two days straight.

Metaplanet has been halted at a max daily gain of +¥30 (+50%), and for the second day in a row, is the best performing stock in Japan. #TSE3350 $BTC pic.twitter.com/Y9F8IAsyyR

— Dylan LeClair (@DylanLeClair_) May 22, 2024

Metaplanet announced on Monday an initiative to help them accumulate more Bitcoin. The move involved boosting the number of authorized shares by 300%.

The strategy, previously employed several times by MicroStrategy, enables the company to generate funds through new share sales. The capital raised will be used to purchase additional Bitcoin, effectively transforming Metaplanet into a de facto Bitcoin ETF for Japanese investors, but without any associated fees.

Metaplanet’s Move to Address Japan’s Economic Challenges

Since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8, the company has acquired 117.7 BTC, currently valued at $7.2 million. Similar to MicroStrategy’s experience in August 2020, Metaplanet’s stock surged after the announcement, currently up 389%.

Metaplanet revealed in a statement on May 13 that it intends to utilize a “full spectrum of capital market tools to enhance its bitcoin reserves,” just like MicroStrategy’s plan.

The company attributed its Bitcoin investment strategy to concerns about Japan’s escalating debt burden and the rapid depreciation of the yen. Metaplanet added that Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 261% is the highest among developed nations. In addition, the yen has depreciated by over 34% against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has surged by nearly 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, a co-founder of the security token platform STOKR, recently announced plans to tokenize Metaplanet shares on the Bitcoin layer-2 network Liquid. This approach would be similar to how STOKR previously tokenized MicroStrategy stock.

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