Japan’s Answer to MicroStrategy Raises $61 Million to Buy More Bitcoin

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has announced a plan to use debt to buy more Bitcoin—mirroring the model of American firm MicroStrategy, the top corporate BTC holder—despite recent pushback from shareholders. 

The company said Friday that it would issue 5 billion yen ($31.9 million) in bonds to buy more of the cryptocurrency. Just on Tuesday, the company had announced another bond issuance to fund its Bitcoin strategy. 

That brings the total of money raised to buy Bitcoin to nearly $61 million. 

But on Tuesday, the share price of the investment firm tanked, showing that investors were perhaps more skeptical over the Bitcoin strategy. Metaplanet announced at the time that it was “officially a Bitcoin treasury company,” which now recognizes its “responsibility as a pioneer in the country’s Bitcoin ecosystem,”

Metaplanet’s stock is currently priced at $23 per share after dipping nearly 3% today and over 12% this week. 

Metaplanet, a publicly-traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy by putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet. It bought the cryptocurrency back in April with a trade valued at 1 billion yen. 

The company has since been dubbed Asia’s answer to MicroStrategy, the largest public holder of Bitcoin. Software firm turned “Bitcoin treasury company” MicroStrategy currently holds 423,650 BTC, valued at over $41 billion.

Bitcoin touched a new all-time high on Tuesday of $108,135, according to CoinGecko, surging double digits over a seven-day period. However, it has since plunged following a more hawkish-than-expected Wednesday speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about future interest rates.

The coin is currently trading for $96,846 after dropping as low as $92,245, Friday morning New York time.

Edited by Andrew Hayward