• Crypto & Funx
• 11 Dec, 2024

Metaplanet bought 156 more BTC, totalling 1,018 BTC holdings amid Japan's economic challenges.

The company's CEO confirmed that Bitcoin was a way out for the company amid yen depreciation and company debt.

It comes as no surprise that Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has now become the biggest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the whole of Asia. The company has been on a BTC purchase spree all year long, earning itself the ‘Asia’s MicroStrategy’ appellation in the process.

Keeping up with the momentum, the firm has again the purchase of an additional 156 BTC valued at $1.6 billion Japanese Yen. This brings its total Bitcoin holdings to over 1,000.

Metaplanet BTC Purchases: The Goal

Metaplanet’s BTC holdings have been steadily rising since it first forayed into the Bitcoin market in May.

On May 13, the firm announced its plans to bolster its Bitcoin reserves. While the move was notably out of MicroStrategy’s playbook, the reason behind the strategy was obvious.

Metaplanet desperately sought measures to hedge against Japan’s worsening inflation, its rising debt burden, and the Japanese yen which was fast losing its value at the time.

Besides, as Simon Gerovich, the company CEO, admitted during the Bitcoin 2024 conference in late July, Metaplanet was not exactly performing at the time the decision was made. The company was at a place where it was struggling with its balance sheet and was in debt.

Eventually, Bitcoin was the saving grace. The “apex monetary asset” offered relief, putting Metaplanet in a better position to succeed in the long term.

Since then, the firm has continued to accumulate BTC at regular intervals. It even went as far as securing loans sometimes to be able to afford more purchases.

In August, Metaplanet had the help of MMXX Ventures — one of its shareholders — as from the company. That was approximately $6.8 million at the time. Since that loan, it has also carried out about 11 Series of Stock Acquisition Rights. The latest of those took place about a week ago, helping the firm to raise a total of 10 billion Yen, obviously aimed at more BTC acquisitions.

Institutional Adoption of Bitcoin

It goes without saying that, over the past few years, there has been a trend of corporate entities adopting BTC. Like Metaplanet, top global firms, including Tesla, also hold BTC on their balance sheet. That is not to mention the likes of tech giant Microsoft who are also actively consulting on the matter of adding BTC to their balance sheets.

Notably, Metaplanet has added over 600 BTC so far in October. So, its total holdings now stand at 1018.17 BTC. That is, as of this publication.

It is not exactly clear if there will be any more purchases in the few days left to go. However, it is clear that Metaplanet will make additional BTC purchases sooner or later.

Whatever the case might be, one can expect many more top companies around the globe to join in on the trend.