Shares of Metaplanet, a Japanese investment company that borrows from MicroStrategy's expertise in the bitcoin (BTC) sector, have soared 1% over the past 158 weeks, the most of any Japanese stock.
Metaplanet's share price now stands at 93 yen, up 127% over the past two days. This rise forced the Tokyo Stock Exchange to halt trading at least twice last week.
The company's market value is close to $110 billion (994,000 or 14.8 billion yen at the current price).
Under TSE rules, stock prices below 100 yen can rise below 30 yen per day, and Metaplanet was violated for two consecutive days.
Dylan Leclair, the company's director of #bitcoin strategy, also spoke about the latest results, noting that Metaplanet has been "the most successful exchange in Japan" for 2 days in a row.
Since announcing its bitcoin investment strategy on September 8, the company has accumulated 117.7 bitcoins, the value of which has now reached ¥720 million. Its shares are up 389%.
Like #MicroStrategy , Bitcoin's largest corporate shareholder, Metaplanet said in its May 5-13 statement that it will "utilize all capital market tools to strategically strengthen bitcoin funds.
The company said Bitcoin's investment strategy is designed to hedge against Japan's worsening debt burden and the rapid depreciation of the Japanese yen:
"This is a direct response to Japan's ongoing economic pressures, especially Japan's high level of government debt, long-term negative real interest rates and the resulting depreciation of the yen," it said. ""
Japan's debt-to-GDP ratio is 261%, the worst among developed economies, and the Japanese yen has fallen more than 34% against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021, Metaplanet adds.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, has risen nearly 190% against the Japanese yen over the past 12 months.
Metaplanet is currently only available on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is closed to U. S. investors.
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