Japan's Answer to MicroStrategy Buys Up Millions More in Bitcoin

A Japanese investment firm that’s been dubbed the Asian country’s answer to MicroStrategy—the American software firm that pioneered the Bitcoin treasury reserve strategy—has bought even more BTC. 

Metaplanet, a publicly-traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, said Monday that it had bought 108.786 Bitcoin for 1 billion yen ($6.7 million). It now holds 639.5 Bitcoin, today worth over $40 million. 

The company offers specialized consulting services to assist businesses in adopting the biggest digital asset by market cap.

Metaplanet took a page out of MicroStrategy’s playbook of putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet back in April when it bought 1 billion yen worth of the asset.

The Japanese firm said at the time it was part of a strategy of not just “embracing digital assets, but also about pioneering a future where finance meets innovation at its core.”

The company has since been dubbed Asia’s answer to MicroStrategy, the largest public holder of Bitcoin, even though Metaplanet’s holdings currently pale in comparison to those of its inspiration. MicroStrategy currently holds 252,200 Bitcoin—or $15.9 billion worth of “digital gold.”

The Tyson, Virginia-based MicroStrategy started buying Bitcoin in 2020 as a way to get the best results for shareholders, instead of holding excess cash. Its stock has surged as a result and now the firm, which sells data-analyzing software, has rebranded itself as a “Bitcoin development company.” 

It uses debt to buy Bitcoin to securitize the asset—allowing investors to get exposure to the cryptocurrency via buying shares of the company—and its co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor tells other companies to do the same. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward