Metaplanet Snaps Up More Bitcoin in Biggest Single Buy to Date

A little-known Japanese investment firm that made headlines for its Bitcoin buys just snapped up more of the biggest cryptocurrency. 

Metaplanet, which trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, announced Monday that it had bought 619.7 Bitcoin for a total of 9.5 billion yen ($60.5 million)—its largest single purchase of the orange coin. 

Only last week, Metaplanet said it would accelerate its Bitcoin buys by issuing debt. As of Monday, it owned 1,761.98 Bitcoin. That’s over $164 million in the biggest digital asset at today’s prices.

The company is copying the model established by American software firm MicroStrategy, which in 2020 started buying Bitcoin as a strategy to get shareholders the best value for money. It now holds 444,262 BTC—valued above $41 billion—following its latest buy. 

MicroStrategy works to securitize Bitcoin, buying the asset and allowing investors to get exposure to it via its Nasdaq-listed shares. 

But in Japan, not everyone with exposure to Metaplanet might be happy with the firm copying MicroStrategy: The company’s stock dipped hard last week on news that the firm would become a “Bitcoin treasury” with a “responsibility as a pioneer in the country’s Bitcoin ecosystem.”

Bitcoin is currently trading for $92,625 per coin, a more than 3% drop over 24 hours and a 13% fall over a seven-day period, CoinGecko data shows. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward