There’s something uniquely Japanese about a company that once operated love hotels and now positions itself as Japan’s gateway to Bitcoin.
Metaplanet’s journey from hospitality to digital asset holdings reads like a boardroom thriller—with the protagonists swapping house keys for private keys.
In just over a year, Metaplanet went from a struggling hotel company to Asia’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder and the 11th largest in the world.
While the headlines focused on the Bitcoin purchase, the real heart of the story is how a traditional Japanese company navigated regulatory restrictions, shareholder skepticism, and market volatility to execute what may be the boldest corporate strategy transformation in recent memory.
The story of Metaplanet began not with grandiose aspirations but with mundane realities. As a hospitality company, it operates hotels across Japan.
The business model is simple: provide accommodations, collect revenue, and repeat.
Nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking.
Just the same stable, predictable business that Japanese companies have excelled at for decades.
The company's financial performance, however, tells a different story. Metaplanet's stock price has been in a long slump, its hotel assets have underperformed, and management is looking for a new direction. By early 2024, the company is ripe for reinvention.
Simon Gerovich, an investment banking veteran, joined Metaplanet with a vision that would have seemed outlandish to hotel guests: transform the company into Japan's MicroStrategy.
Metaplanet’s Bitcoin journey began in May 2024, when the company announced its first purchase of 117.7 Bitcoins, valued at approximately $7.2 million. It was a strategic transformation, announced with the solemnity of a corporate manifesto.
The company adopted what it called a “Bitcoin Reserve Strategy,” positioning the cryptocurrency as its primary corporate reserve asset. The decision came with a complete restructuring of the company’s operations and philosophy.
They Now Own More Bitcoin Than El Salvador.
Just think, a Japanese hotel company owns more Bitcoin than a country that has made Bitcoin legal tender.
Since its first purchase, Metaplanet has been very steady in its Bitcoin accumulation:
May 2024: Additional 23.35 Bitcoins purchased
July 2024: Another 20.381 Bitcoins purchased
August 2024: Increased holdings by 21.88 Bitcoins
September 2024: Additional 23.35 Bitcoins purchased
Month: Multiple purchases totaling over 100 BTC
December 2024: Holdings reach 1,762 BTC (starting to get serious)
Q1 2025: 5,034 BTC added in three months (full force)
May 2025: Holdings reach 6,796 BTC after purchasing 1,241 BTC
Their average cost? About $89,492 per BTC. Pretty good timing considering today’s prices.
Metaplanet is now the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in Japan and one of the most significant among publicly traded companies globally.
The rise in Bitcoin prices in 2024 means that the value of Metaplanet's holdings has increased significantly, bringing unrealized gains that far exceed its traditional hotel revenue.
Record operating profit: 592 million yen in profit on 877 million yen in revenue
Bitcoin revenue: 770 million yen (88% of total revenue) from option premium
Hotel operating income: only 104 million yen (12% of revenue)
Bitcoin holdings: 6,796 (1,762 by end-2024) Unrealized Bitcoin losses: 7.4 billion yen in Q1, but reversed to a 13.5 billion yen gain by May 12 What is Bitcoin revenue generation? In simple terms, they sell cash-secured Bitcoin put options, collecting a premium while buying more Bitcoin at a lower price when the options are exercised. Their stock price? Up 3,000% since they began their Bitcoin journey. Meanwhile, traditional hotel stocks may still be struggling to recover from their 2020 lows.
While Bitcoin itself has performed well during this period, Metaplanet's gain of over 3,000% has far exceeded Bitcoin's returns, suggesting that investors are willing to pay a premium for:
Their innovative financing mechanism
Execution of the "BTC Yield" strategy
The opportunity to gain Bitcoin exposure within the Japanese regulatory framework
The company's ability to amplify its Bitcoin exposure
Let's explain it briefly.
1. Dynamic strike price warrants (the subtlety)
They sold 210 million “warrants” to investors
These warrants convert into shares only if Metaplanet’s share price goes up
Result: shareholders are diluted only when everyone makes money
They raised 76.6 billion yen this way without issuing it at below market price
2. Zero coupon bonds (free money)
They borrowed money and paid 0%
Why would anyone want to borrow money for free? Because they have potential upside if Bitcoin surges
Latest News: 3.6 Billion Yen Borrowed at 0% Interest
3. Bitcoin Income (Let Bitcoin Make Its Own Money)
They sell "insurance" (cash-secured put options) on Bitcoin.
If Bitcoin plummets, they are forced to buy more (which is exactly what they want).
If Bitcoin doesn't plummet, they keep the option premium.
In Q1 2025, 88% of revenue came from this strategy.
4. Cash Flow from Hotel Business
They still own some hotels, generating 104 million yen in revenue per quarter.
All this cash goes directly to buying Bitcoin.
Positive Feedback Loop
Buy Bitcoin with the funds raised.
Bitcoin price goes up → stock price goes up.
Stock price goes up → more warrants can be sold.
Use the warrant funds to buy more Bitcoin.
Repeat the above process.
Why does this work?
They only issue new shares (warrants) when the stock price goes up.
They borrow money at zero interest (zero coupon bonds).
They make money from Bitcoin’s volatility (options trading).
Everything feeds back into a cycle of buying more Bitcoin.
If Bitcoin plummets and the stock price drops, the whole mechanism will cease to function. No one will buy the warrants, the bonds become difficult to sell, and they can’t fund more Bitcoin purchases.
When asked about the stock price concerns, Grovich responded: “We’re just getting started.” Given that their current holdings are larger than the entire country, there’s no doubting the strength of their confidence.
Metaplanet also announced plans to issue another $21 million in bonds to EVO FUND. This is their 14th bond issuance to date. These bonds? Zero interest, naturally, because who needs that kind of yield when you have Bitcoin?
The company is setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in Florida, Metaplanet Treasury Corp, which plans to raise $250 million to expand its Bitcoin purchasing capabilities outside of Japan. Apparently, one country is no longer enough to satisfy their buying desires.
Metaplanet is not hedging. Instead of a 50% Bitcoin, 50% hotel strategy, they are all-in on the Orange Currency (Bitcoin) strategy. Their entire business model is now:
Raise funds
Buy Bitcoin
Generate income from Bitcoin volatility
Repeat
Metaplanet s strategy is clearly inspired by MicroStrategy's transformation under Michael Saylor. However, the Japanese company operates in a different regulatory and cultural environment, which presents both opportunities and limitations.
Metaplanet introduced their own key performance indicator (KPI) called "BTC Yield" - a measure of the growth of Bitcoin holdings per share over time. Q1 2025 shows a 170% BTC yield. This means that despite the company issuing more shares, shareholders hold 170% more Bitcoin per share.
In comparison, what Metaplanet achieved in 3 months, MicroStrategy took 19 months to accomplish. Their market net asset value grew 3.8 times faster than MicroStrategy.
Unlike MicroStrategy, which benefits from mature U.S. capital markets and a sophisticated convertible bond market, Metaplanet must deal with Japan’s more conservative financial environment. Japan’s corporate bond market is underdeveloped, and retail investors’ appetite for leveraged Bitcoin investments may be more limited.
Metaplanet also benefits from being first in the Japanese market. As the leading Bitcoin proxy among Japanese listed companies, it has attracted domestic and foreign capital seeking Bitcoin exposure in Japan.
The company’s background in the hotel business also provides a narrative buffer. Unlike pure-play Bitcoin companies, Metaplanet retains an operating business that could theoretically support the company if its Bitcoin strategy fails. That may offer some comfort to more conservative investors.
Metaplanet’s transformation represents something profound about the evolution of businesses in the digital age. Here was a company that realized its traditional business model was becoming obsolete and made an aggressive bet on an emerging asset class.
Metaplanet essentially took MicroStrategy’s playbook and optimized it for the Japanese market. Whereas MicroStrategy issued convertible bonds, Metaplanet pioneered dynamic strike price warrants that only dilute shareholders if the stock price rises. The result? A more efficient Bitcoin accumulation engine favored by Japan’s regulatory advantages.
The audacity is remarkable. Most corporate transformations involve incremental changes—retailers moving online, media companies embracing streaming. Metaplanet, on the other hand, completely abandoned its core competency and bet the company on an asset that didn’t exist when it was founded.
The success or failure of this strategy depends largely on the long-term trajectory of Bitcoin. If Bitcoin continues to be adopted by institutions and governments, Metaplanet's early positioning may prove to be visionary. The company will essentially transform into a leveraged company that takes advantage of Bitcoin's popularity.
If Bitcoin stagnates or faces a regulatory crackdown, Metaplanet's strategy could be disastrous. The company will be left with a shrinking hotel business and huge unrealized losses on its cryptocurrency holdings.
What is certain is that Metaplanet has created a template for corporate Bitcoin adoption that other companies will study - both as inspiration and as a warning. In a world where traditional business models are constantly being disrupted, perhaps the most rational strategy is to fully embrace the disruption.
Sometimes, survival requires not just adaptation, but radical metamorphosis. Metaplanet's management is betting that Bitcoin represents the future of value storage. Time will tell whether they are farsighted or reckless.
But in an era when stagnation often means regression, there is admirable courage in a company that risks everything to stick to its beliefs. Whether this transformation leads to prosperity or danger remains the most fascinating corporate story in Japan today.
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