Metaplanet Surges in Japanese Stock Market After Adding Bitcoin to Reserves
Investment firm Metaplanet has experienced an impressive surge in its shares, with a staggering 158% increase over the past week, making it the top gainer among all Japanese stocks.
Currently priced at 93 Japanese yen, the company’s shares have seen a remarkable 127% increase in just two days.
The rapid growth even led to multiple trading halts on the Tokyo Stock Exchange due to the activation of circuit breakers.
With a market capitalization of nearly $1 billion (14.8 billion Japanese yen), Metaplanet is making significant waves in the financial market.
Metaplanet has followed in the footsteps of MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, adopting a similar strategy.
Since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8, Metaplanet has accumulated 117.7 Bitcoin, which is currently valued at $7.2 million. As a result, its stock has surged by 389%.
In a statement released on May 13, Metaplanet revealed its intention to strategically employ various capital market instruments to strengthen its Bitcoin reserves, mirroring MicroStrategy’s approach.
The company cited the need to hedge against Japan’s mounting debt burden and the rapid depreciation of the Japanese yen.
Japan currently holds the unfortunate distinction of having the worst debt-to-GDP ratio among developed countries, standing at 261%.
Additionally, the Japanese yen has depreciated by over 34% against the United States dollar since the beginning of 2021.
Metaplanet sees its Bitcoin investment strategy as a direct response to these economic pressures.
While Metaplanet is currently only available for trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, plans are underway to tokenize its shares on the Bitcoin layer-2 network Liquid.
Arnab Naskar, one of the founders of security token platform STOKR, has expressed intentions to tokenize Metaplanet shares, using a similar approach to tokenize MicroStrategy stock.
Last month, Metaplanet announced its decision to incorporate Bitcoin into its treasury assets due to several factors.
Firstly, it aims to minimize its exposure to the Japanese yen, which has been significantly impacted by Japan’s low-interest-rate environment.
In a shareholder update, Metaplanet expressed concerns about the yen’s vulnerability and highlighted Bitcoin’s potential as a hedge against inflation, a tool for macroeconomic resilience, and a source of long-term capital appreciation.
Several major corporate investors in Bitcoin, including MicroStrategy, have already seen their profits soar.
According to data from Saylortracker, at current market prices of around $65,000, MicroStrategy’s position now has a total valuation exceeding $12.57 billion.
This means the company has unrealized profits of almost $6.5 billion on paper, reflecting a gain of almost 104% yield-to-date from an investment allocation started under Saylor back in 2020.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at around $69,000, experiencing a decrease of more than 3% over the past day.
The leading cryptocurrency is just 5% away from its all-time high of $73,750, which was registered on March 14.
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