Metaplanet, a Japanese investment firm, has experienced a remarkable surge in its shares, following a similar investment strategy to MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin playbook. Over the past week, the company’s shares have skyrocketed by 158%, making it the top gainer among all Japanese stocks.
Currently priced at 93 Japanese yen, Metaplanet’s share price has risen by 127% in just two days. This surge in value has led to the activation of a circuit breaker trading halt on the Tokyo Stock Exchange multiple times in the past week.
The company is now on the verge of surpassing a market capitalization of $1 billion, equivalent to 14.8 billion Japanese yen at current prices. However, according to the rules of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, listed stocks with a share price below 100 Japanese yen are subject to a maximum daily increase of 30 Japanese yen. Metaplanet has breached this limit for two consecutive days.
Dylan LeClair, the firm’s Director of Bitcoin Strategy, has highlighted the exceptional performance of Metaplanet, stating that it has been the best-performing stock in Japan for two consecutive days.
Since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8, the company has acquired 117.7 Bitcoin, currently valued at $7.2 million. As a result, its stock has risen by an impressive 389%.
Similar to MicroStrategy, which is the largest corporate Bitcoin shareholder, Metaplanet has expressed its intention to strategically bolster its Bitcoin reserves using various capital market instruments. In a statement released on May 13, the firm explained that this move is a direct response to the economic pressures faced by Japan, including high government debt levels, prolonged periods of negative real interest rates, and a weakening yen.
Metaplanet emphasized that Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 261% is the highest among developed countries. Additionally, the Japanese yen has depreciated by more than 34% against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021. In contrast, Bitcoin has experienced a nearly 190% increase against the Japanese yen over the past year.
It is worth noting that Metaplanet is currently only available for trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, limiting access to US investors. However, Arnab Naskar, one of the founders of the security token platform STOKR, has expressed interest in tokenizing Metaplanet shares on the Bitcoin layer-2 network Liquid, similar to how MicroStrategy stock was tokenized.
Overall, Metaplanet’s adoption of a Bitcoin investment strategy has proven to be highly successful, propelling the company’s shares to new heights and attracting attention from investors worldwide.