Metaplanet, an investment firm focused on Bitcoin, recently acquired an additional 21.88 Bitcoin, amounting to over $1.2 million or 200 million Japanese yen. This purchase was made during the recent Bitcoin surge, which pushed prices close to $65,000.
In their statement released on July 16, Metaplanet revealed that their total Bitcoin holdings now stand at 225.6 Bitcoin, valued at $14.6 million.
As a result of this recent purchase and the 4.4% price increase of Bitcoin in the last 24 hours, Metaplanet’s share prices experienced a significant surge. According to Google Finance data, the stock prices rose by 25.8% to $0.74 or 117 yen in the first two and a half hours of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 16.
Earlier this month, Metaplanet took advantage of a dip in Bitcoin’s price and acquired an additional 42.46 Bitcoin for $2.5 million or 400 million yen on July 7. Since unveiling their Bitcoin investment strategy on April 9, 2024, the firm’s stock prices have increased nearly six-fold.
Despite these gains, Metaplanet’s Bitcoin holdings have only increased by 2.8% due to their average purchase price of $62,890.
CoinGecko ranks Metaplanet as the world’s 21st-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. However, it is important to note that CoinGecko has not yet updated its data to reflect Metaplanet’s latest Bitcoin purchase.
Metaplanet has earned the nickname “Asia’s MicroStrategy” due to its similar investment strategy to MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor, in 2020. Like MicroStrategy, Metaplanet announced on May 13 that it would utilize various capital market instruments to strengthen its Bitcoin reserves.
This strategy was adopted by Metaplanet as a hedge against Japan’s increasing debt burden and the depreciation of the Japanese yen. Since January 2021, the yen has fallen by nearly 54% against the US dollar, while Bitcoin has increased by over 145% against the yen in the past year.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $64,640, representing a 13.6% increase in the last week.
In other news, Singapore is not prepared for Bitcoin ETFs, and there have been reports of a sneaky crypto mining rig importer in Asia Express magazine.