Metaplanet raises $66 million through stock rights offering, eyes bitcoin’s outlook

Quick Take

  • The Tokyo-listed firm has completed its stock acquisition rights program with participation from 13,774 individual shareholders.
  • The total funds raised amounted to 10 billion yen ($66 million).

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet Inc. has raised about 10 billion yen ($66 million) by completing its stock acquisition rights exercise, as the company continues to pour money into bitcoin investments.

The Tokyo-listed firm disclosed on Wednesday that its 11th planned stock acquisition rights have been exercised, with participation from 13,774 individual shareholders. With the plan, shareholders were given the opportunity to buy shares at a discounted rate.

The firm commenced the stock acquisition rights period on Sept. 6 and concluded on Oct. 15. The total funds raised through the approach amounted to 10 billion yen, according to the filing.

“We would like to thank all shareholders for their invaluable support and contribution, which strengthens Metaplanet’s mission of becoming a leading bitcoin treasury company,” Simon Gerovich, CEO of Metaplanet, wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. 

While Metaplanet did not specify in the filing how it would use the newly raised funds, the firm has been on a bitcoin buying spree in recent months after announcing in May that it had started to adopt bitcoin as its strategic treasury reserve asset. Earlier this month, it purchased an additional 106.976 bitcoin worth about 1 billion yen ($6.6 million), raising its total holdings to 855.478 BTC, or about $57.4 million at current market prices.

Metaplanet also announced last week that it has rolled up its bitcoin put options previously disclosed on Oct. 3, adjusting the strike price to $66,000 from $62,000 as the firm remains optimistic about the outlook of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

Metaplanet’s stock closed down 6.57% at 1,110 yen on Wednesday in Japan. However, its stock price has risen 6.53% over the past month and 593.75% year-to-date. The Nikkei 225 index was down 0.8% today.

Meanwhile, Michael Saylor-led MicroStrategy remains the largest corporate bitcoin holder, owning 252,220 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries data. Marathon Digital follows this record with 26,842 BTC.


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About Author

Timmy Shen is an Asia editor for The Block. Previously, he wrote about crypto and Web3 for Forkast.News from Taiwan after spending more than three years in Beijing covering finance, entertainment business and current affairs at Caixin Global and Chinese tech at TechNode. His China-related reporting has also appeared in The Guardian. When he's not chasing headlines, you'll find him savoring hot pot and shabu shabu in a Taipei local haunt. Timmy holds an MS degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Send tips to [email protected] or get in touch on X/Telegram @timmyhmshen.

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