Metaplanet stock soars over 1,000% this year as firm adopts Bitcoin strategy

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Metaplanet’s Bitcoin adoption has sent its stock soaring around 1,017% so far this year, making it the best-performing Japanese stock in 2024, according to Simon Gerovich, the company’s CEO.

日本で最も上昇した上位20銘柄
Top 20 Best Performing Stocks in Japan pic.twitter.com/88zjfFp2Ee

— Simon Gerovich (@gerovich) November 1, 2024

The company, which began its Bitcoin initiative in April, has established itself as one of Asia’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders. Share prices jumped 740% in six months, climbing from $190 in April to $1,596 at Friday’s market close, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Once struggling to revive its stagnant business, Metaplanet has transformed itself into a promising company by following the Bitcoin path.

It has actively accumulated Bitcoin through various financing methods, including stock offerings and bond issuances, similar to MicroStrategy’s approach with adjustments to adhere to Japanese regulations.

“We realized that Bitcoin is the apex monetary asset, something great for our treasury to have,” said Gerovich at the July Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. “We then made it our stated goal to own and to purchase as much Bitcoin as we can over time.”

The company now holds over 1,000 BTC, purchased at an average price of $61,800. With Bitcoin currently trading at $69,900, its unrealized gains amount to $8 million.

Metaplanet aims to increase its Bitcoin holdings and drive broader adoption of Bitcoin as a corporate reserve asset, much like MicroStrategy, but Michael Saylor sets a more ambitious goal: to become the world’s leading Bitcoin bank.

Corporate Bitcoin holdings are on the rise

Corporate Bitcoin holdings have surged by 587% since 2020, according to a September report by River Financial, with businesses now holding over 3% of all Bitcoin in circulation, equivalent to approximately 683,332 BTC.

MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor advocates for large companies to invest in Bitcoin as a means to enhance capitalization and protect assets from inflation.

Saylor has encouraged Apple and Microsoft to invest in Bitcoin. He believes that holding Bitcoin can serve as a hedge against the devaluation of fiat currencies.

Speaking on the Markets with Madison podcast earlier this month, he suggested that if Apple invested $100 billion in Bitcoin instead of share buybacks, the company’s market cap could increase by up to $2 trillion.

Similarly, Saylor suggested that Microsoft should consider investing in Bitcoin to unlock significant value for its shareholders. In a post directed at Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, he proposed that such an investment could potentially add another trillion dollars to Microsoft’s market cap.

Microsoft is set to conduct a shareholder vote on a proposal regarding Bitcoin investment during its annual meeting on December 10.

Microsoft’s shareholders are primarily composed of major institutional investors and some individual insiders. The list of institutional giants includes Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity Investments, and Geode Capital Management.

Despite the proposal, Microsoft’s Board of Directors has recommended that shareholders vote against it, arguing that they have already thoroughly evaluated the potential for Bitcoin investment and found it unnecessary.

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