According to CryptoPotato, Metaplanet, a Japanese firm often compared to MicroStrategy on Crypto Twitter, has seen a 158% surge in its shares over the past week. This surge led to a halt in stock trading for two consecutive days. Currently, Metaplanet is leading among Japanese stocks as the highest gainer.
The company's strategy, similar to that of MicroStrategy, the largest Bitcoin corporate holder, has been to accumulate more Bitcoin over time. This strategy has paid off, with Metaplanet's share price rising 127% to 93 Japanese yen, up from 41 at the start of the week. The company is now on the verge of hitting a $1 billion market cap.
On Monday, Metaplanet announced a plan to increase its Bitcoin accumulation by boosting the number of authorized shares by 300%. This strategy, previously used by MicroStrategy, allows the company to raise funds through new share sales. The capital raised will be used to purchase additional Bitcoin, effectively turning Metaplanet into a de facto Bitcoin ETF for Japanese investors, without any associated fees.
Since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8, Metaplanet has acquired 117.7 BTC, currently valued at $7.2 million. The company's stock surged 389% following the announcement. Metaplanet plans to use a 'full spectrum of capital market tools' to enhance its Bitcoin reserves, similar to MicroStrategy's approach.
The company's Bitcoin investment strategy is a response to Japan's escalating debt burden and the rapid depreciation of the yen. Japan's debt-to-GDP ratio of 261% is the highest among developed nations, and the yen has depreciated by over 34% against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021. In contrast, 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, plans to tokenize Metaplanet shares on the Bitcoin layer-2 network Liquid have been announced by Arnab Naskar, a co-founder of the security token platform STOKR. This would be similar to how STOKR previously tokenized MicroStrategy stock.