According to PANews, Metaplanet, a Japanese Web3 infrastructure provider, has announced a collaboration with Sora Ventures and Mark Yusko of Morgan Creek Capital. The company has added Bitcoin (BTC) worth $6.56 million to its balance sheet, resulting in a nearly 90% increase in its publicly traded stock price in Tokyo within two days. The move is aimed at reducing exposure to the yen and providing Japanese investors with an opportunity to engage with cryptocurrency under a favorable tax structure.
Initially operating budget hotels under the name Red Planet, Metaplanet has since transitioned into a Web3 software developer. The company stated that this decision is intended to use Bitcoin as a means of hedging against inflation, a tool for macroeconomic stability, and a foundation for long-term capital appreciation. This strategy emulates that of MicroStrategy, a US-based company that announced in 2020 that it would begin increasing its Bitcoin holdings. Today, its stock price often reflects fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin, demonstrating investor sentiment towards the cryptocurrency market.
Furthermore, Jason Fang, a partner and co-founder of Sora Ventures, emphasized that this is a way for Japanese investors to engage with cryptocurrency through publicly traded companies rather than directly holding assets, the latter of which is affected by high taxes on unrealized cryptocurrency gains.