It may have sold some of its stash last quarter, but Japanese bitcoin giant Metaplanet has said it was just to demonstrate to investors that it could if it wanted to.
In a filing Monday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed firm said that it bought a total of 1,000 bitcoin in the third quarter of this year — landing it a spot as the second biggest bitcoin treasury.
“The transaction was intended to strengthen confidence in the company’s creditworthiness and broaden its access to future financing, including corporate bonds and preferred shares, with the ultimate objective of increasing the group’s bitcoin holdings,” Metaplanet said on Monday regarding its sale.
Metaplanet’s announcement comes as the price of bitcoin surges, giving bitcoin treasuries a boost. The business model of buying and holding bitcoin and other digital assets with spare cash suffered with a plunge in crypto prices last year.
Such companies are now seeing their stock prices go up again as the price of the biggest digital asset rallies again.
Metaplanet stock was up on Monday. Year-to-date, it has dropped but is up over the past month.
The company said in its filing that it sold 10,000 BTC for approximately $789.2 million before purchasing 11,000 BTC for $948.7 million at an average of $86,246 in the third quarter of 2026.
“Accordingly, the sale in the Transactions was not merely a formal disposal of bitcoin,” Metaplanet said.
“It demonstrated, through an actual transaction, that the Group can convert its bitcoin into cash and hold cash in excess of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of its bonds, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities.”
Its CEO Simon Gerovich added in a post on X: “We converted Bitcoin into cash, exceeding the total outstanding principal of our bonds, borrowings and other interest-bearing debt. We held that cash, then bought back more Bitcoin than we sold.”
Often dubbed Asia’s answer to Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury Strategy, Metaplanet pivoted from its core hotel and technology business to buying Bitcoin in 2024.
The company is now the second biggest corporate holder of the asset after software firm Strategy, with 44,000 coins on its balance sheet — worth $3.7 billion at today’s prices.