Japan’s Metaplanet Doubles Down On MicroStrategy Playbook With ¥200 Million Worth Of Bitcoin

4 months ago 3

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Bitcoin’s recent pullback has yet to shake the faith of Metaplanet, the public Japanese investment company that went all in on the flagship cryptocurrency in April.

Metaplanet has purchased more Bitcoin (BTC) following the playbook of the U.S. market leader, MicroStrategy.

Metaplanet Boosts Its Bitcoin Treasury

The firm announced in a Monday statement that it had acquired an additional 20.2 Bitcoin (BTC) for its balance sheet, valued at around 200 million Japanese Yen (or about $1.2 million).

The firm’s latest Bitcoin purchase follows four previous acquisitions over the last four months, bringing its total stockpile to 161.27 BTC as of July 1, worth about ¥1.6 billion (over $10.24 million). The average purchase price per Bitcoin stands at $63,500, according to Metaplanet.

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet started purchasing Bitcoin in April to reduce yen exposure amid Japan’s economic adversity. Crypto evangelists have long hailed Bitcoin as a hedge against fiscal and monetary imprudence.

The firm also seeks to offer Japanese investors exposure to crypto through a publicly traded company instead of holding the asset itself, which is subject to a high tax on unrealized crypto gains. It officially adopted BTC as its “core treasury reserve asset” in May and is Japan’s biggest Bitcoin corporate holder.

“The move is a direct response to sustained economic pressures in Japan, notably high government debt levels, prolonged periods of negative real interest rates, and the consequently weak yen,” the company said at the time.

The company intends to hold Bitcoin for the long term to ensure minimally realized taxable gains and to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible by issuing long-dated yen debt offerings when the opportunity comes up.

The strategy mimics that of Tysons Corner, Virginia-based MicroStrategy, the Michael Saylor-founded business intelligence company that in 2020 said it would start building up its Bitcoin cache. Since then, its stock price has often reflected Bitcoin price swings, representing investor sentiment toward the crypto market. MicroStrategy is now the world’s largest corporate owner of Bitcoin, according to bitcointreasuries, holding 226,331 BTC valued at around $14 billion.

Bitcoin, the number one cryptocurrency, has gained 2.48% in the past 24 hours. BTC touched its intraday high of $63,694 earlier today and is currently trading for $63,030.

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