Metaplanet Witnesses Massive Surge In Stock Price

Metaplanet, a Japan-based investment firm, has witnessed a surge in its stock price by 158% in the past week, making it the top performer among all Japanese stocks. Currently priced at 93 Japanese yen, Metaplanet shares have soared by 127% in just two days. Such rapid growth prompted the Tokyo Stock Exchange to trigger circuit breaker trading halts multiple times within the week.

Making History

With a market cap nearing $1 billion, Metaplanet finds itself on the verge of breaching the threshold.

Per Tokyo Stock Exchange regulations, listed stocks priced under 100 Japanese yen are subject to a maximum daily increase of 30 Japanese yen, a limit Metaplanet surpassed for two consecutive days.

Dylan LeClair, the Director of Bitcoin Strategy for the company, highlighted this recent exceptional performance while noting its back-to-back status as the best-performing stock in Japan over two days. This is largely because, after unveiling its Bitcoin investment strategy on April 8th, 2024, Metaplanet has amassed a whopping 117.7 BTC, valued at $7.2 million presently. This move has propelled its stock price by 389%.

The Key Reasons

The company expressed intentions to leverage a full range of capital market tools to strategically enhance its Bitcoin reserves in a statement on May 13th. Metaplanet attributes its Bitcoin investment strategy to hedging against local escalating debt burden and the depreciating Japanese yen. The firm cited the staggering domestic debt-to-GDP ratio of 261%, the highest among developed nations, alongside the 34% decline of the yen against the US dollar since the start of 2021.

While the yen has depreciated, Bitcoin has appreciated by nearly 190% against the Japanese national currency in the last year. Metaplanet shares are currently exclusive to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, limiting access for US investors. Nevertheless, Arnab Naskar, one of the founders of the security token platform STOKR, has expressed interest in tokenizing Metaplanet shares on Liquid, a Layer-2 Bitcoin network, similar to what MicroStrategy has done in the past.