Listed investment company Metaplanet has added bitcoin (BTC) to its reserve assets in response to the continued decline of the Japanese yen.
Tokyo-based Metaplanet officially announced on May 13 a "strategic change" in its treasury management strategy, adopting a bitcoin-only approach.
'This move is a direct response to the ongoing economic pressures in Japan, in particular the high level of public debt, prolonged negative real interest rates and the resulting yen depreciation,' the company stated.
The statement did not disclose how many bitcoins Metaplanet currently stores or plans to store in the future. On May 10, Metaplanet announced the purchase of 117.7 #BTC ($7.19 million) at an average price of about 10.2 million yen ($65,000). Metaplanet has a market capitalization of about 3.5 billion yen ($20 million).
Metaplanet's entry into the #bitcoin market comes a few weeks after the company announced its new bitcoin-focused strategy in early April and said it had completed its first $6.5 million bitcoin purchase.
The move sparked a huge reaction on social media and led to a sharp rise in Metaplanet's share price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Metaplanet shares, listed under the numeric designation 3350, #rose in value from 20 yen ($0.13) to more than 35 yen ($0.22) hours after the company announced the bitcoin purchase in April.
Prior to its strategic entry into bitcoin, Metaplanet was primarily in the traditional investment business: founded in 1999, Metaplanet initially specialized in hospitality, investment services, and investor relations consulting.
The news comes just days after Metaplanet appointed renowned market researcher Dylan Leclair as director of bitcoin strategy.
This is just the beginning," Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerowitz wrote in a May 9 post X about the company buying more bitcoin.
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