Surpassing MicroStrategy: Metaplanet Opens New Possibilities for $3 Billion Holdings with "Bitcoin Yield" Model

Tokyo-listed company Metaplanet once again shocks the market with its aggressive Bitcoin strategy. On December 30, the company disclosed that it increased its holdings by approximately $451 million, acquiring 4,279 Bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 35,102 BTC. Based on current market prices, its Bitcoin reserves have surpassed the $3 billion mark, maintaining a leading position among publicly listed companies worldwide.

More notably, its “Bitcoin revenue-generating business,” focused on options strategies, has performed far beyond expectations. Operating income for fiscal year 2025 is projected to reach 85.8 billion yen (approximately $54 million), a 186% increase over initial guidance. This Japanese company is successfully executing an innovative “dual-wheel drive” model: on one hand, holding Bitcoin as a long-term core treasury asset indefinitely; on the other, utilizing derivatives strategies to “activate” part of its holdings and generate continuous cash flow. This strategy not only makes it the most powerful Asian mirror of MicroStrategy but also potentially opens a new path for global corporate treasury management that balances value storage and asset income.

A $450 Million “Dollar-Cost Averaging” Investment: Metaplanet’s Bitcoin Reserves Cross the $3 Billion Milestone

For investors closely watching corporate Bitcoin holdings, Metaplanet’s actions at the end of 2025 undoubtedly mark a bold and colorful exclamation point for the year. The Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed company announced in a concise statement that it completed a Bitcoin acquisition totaling approximately $451 million. This purchase involved 4,279 BTC at an average cost of about 16.33 million yen per Bitcoin. After this increase, Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin holdings surged to 35,102 BTC. Based on market prices at the time of announcement, the total value of its Bitcoin treasury has historically surpassed the $3 billion threshold.

This acquisition was not a spur-of-the-moment decision but a natural extension of Metaplanet’s long-term, systematic strategy. Since officially establishing Bitcoin treasury operations as a core business line in December 2024, the company’s Bitcoin accumulation has never slowed. From an initial holding of about 1,762 BTC at the end of 2024 to over 35,000 BTC today, Metaplanet has achieved nearly 20-fold growth in just one year. The company explicitly states that its core strategy is to regard Bitcoin as a fundamental treasury reserve asset, not a short-term trading or speculative tool. Its accumulation approach is diversified, involving direct market purchases as well as strategic operations related to Bitcoin options, demonstrating professional asset allocation capabilities.

This acquisition further consolidates Metaplanet’s leading position in the global “public company Bitcoin holdings ranking.” Although it still lags behind Strategy (MicroStrategy), which holds over 200,000 BTC, its $3 billion holding value far exceeds that of companies like Tesla, making it the most aggressive and steadfast corporate Bitcoin advocate and practitioner in Asia. This move sends a clear signal to the market: while some listed companies hesitate or exit due to market volatility, Metaplanet leverages its unique business model and financing capabilities to increase its stakes against the trend and steadfastly execute its long-term Bitcoin strategy.

Key Data on Metaplanet’s Bitcoin Strategy for FY2025

Treasury holdings data:

• Latest single purchase: 4,279 BTC, costing $451 million
• Total holdings: 35,102 BTC
• Total market value: approximately $3 billion
• Average cost: about 15.95 million yen / BTC

Revenue-generating business performance (FY2025):

• Expected operating income: 85.8 billion yen (about $54 million)
• Growth over initial guidance: +186%
• Q4 single-quarter revenue: 42.4 billion yen
• Quarterly revenue compound growth rate: approximately 57%

Financial and capital indicators:

• Bitcoin credit financing limit: $280 million utilized (total limit $500 million)
• Class B preferred stock financing: 21.25 billion yen
• Bitcoin per share: 0.02405 BTC / 1,000 shares (fully diluted)

The Victory of the “Dual-Wheel Drive” Business Model: When Bitcoin Treasury Meets Cash Cow Business

If Metaplanet’s story were just about endless Bitcoin accumulation, it might be just another MicroStrategy clone. However, what truly surprises the market and prompts a reassessment of its value is another explosive set of data in its financial report: its “Bitcoin revenue-generating business” is expected to achieve an astonishing 85.8 billion yen in operating income for FY2025. This is 2.86 times its initial 3 billion yen guidance and significantly exceeds the revised 6.3 billion yen forecast in October. This sharply rising revenue curve reveals that Metaplanet’s carefully designed “dual-wheel drive” business model has begun to operate efficiently.

The essence of this “revenue-generating business” is a derivative strategy portfolio based on Bitcoin options, completely isolated from the long-term treasury. The company allocates a dedicated Bitcoin fund pool and employs carefully designed options strategies (such as selling call options or constructing spread positions) to continuously earn option premiums as cash flow during market volatility. Crucially, the company strictly stipulates that these Bitcoin used for revenue generation are entirely separate from the “core treasury” held for long-term reserves. Profits from derivatives can be reinvested into long-term reserves but are never allowed to use core treasury Bitcoin for derivatives trading that could risk principal. This “firewall” design safeguards core assets while creating a highly growth-oriented profit center.

Looking back at FY2025, the growth trajectory of this business has been “rocket-like.” From 6.916 billion yen in Q4 FY2024, it jumped to 7.703 billion yen in Q1 FY2025, then reached 11.3 billion yen, 24.4 billion yen, and 42.4 billion yen in Q2, Q3, and Q4 respectively. The second half’s growth was especially rapid, with a quarterly compound growth rate of about 57%. This impressive performance demonstrates that Metaplanet is not merely betting on Bitcoin price increases but building a financial engine capable of navigating bull and bear markets, transforming Bitcoin assets into productive power. This capability elevates its valuation logic beyond simple Bitcoin beta exposure, adding an alpha premium of its own.

Sophisticated Financial Engineering: How Does Metaplanet Continuously Fuel the “Bitcoin Whale”?

Supporting Metaplanet’s massive Bitcoin acquisitions is a complex and precise financial engineering and capital operation system. Continuous Bitcoin purchases consume huge amounts of cash, while the company cleverly solves funding issues through diversified financing tools, aiming to maximize shareholder benefits. Its financing strategies mainly revolve around three core areas: debt financing, equity financing, and innovative capital instruments.

On the debt side, Metaplanet actively uses its Bitcoin assets as collateral for loans. In Q4, it activated a $280 million Bitcoin-backed credit line out of a total $500 million financing plan. This operation is similar to mortgage loans in real estate, allowing the company to obtain liquidity without selling Bitcoin, for further purchases or operations, thus leveraging its assets and significantly amplifying gains during Bitcoin bull cycles.

On the equity side, to minimize dilution of existing shareholders, Metaplanet issued 21.25 billion yen of Class B preferred shares to overseas institutional investors. These shares often have different voting rights or dividend terms, helping raise funds while protecting existing shareholders’ rights and control. The company also redeemed maturing ordinary bonds to optimize its debt structure. An even more international step is the recent launch of a U.S. depositary receipt program, which will greatly reduce the barriers and costs for U.S. investors to buy its stock, attracting broader global capital and providing potential liquidity support and valuation uplift.

To transparently demonstrate its strategic results to shareholders, Metaplanet even invented proprietary metrics: “BTC Yield” and “BTC Gain.” The former measures the ratio of Bitcoin accumulated relative to shareholder dilution; the latter tracks Bitcoin per share. Although BTC Yield has decreased as assets and equity expand, as of the end of December, the “Bitcoin per share” has risen to 0.02405 BTC / 1000 shares (fully diluted). This self-created “accounting method” highlights its commitment to deeply binding its value to Bitcoin and addresses market concerns about potential dilution of Bitcoin rights through ongoing financing.

Price Paradox and Future Challenges: Asia’s Bitcoin Strategy Pioneer at a Crossroads

Despite the impressive business data and financial strategies, Metaplanet’s immediate market reaction presents an interesting “paradox.” On the day of announcing Bitcoin holdings increase and revenue surge, its stock price did not rise but fell, closing at 405 yen, down nearly 8% for the day. This “good news all around is bad news” or “fully priced” market behavior reveals investors’ more complex and cautious evaluation perspective.

The short-term divergence in stock price may stem from multiple factors. First, the market may worry about Bitcoin’s inherent volatility. Metaplanet’s asset value and income capacity are highly correlated with Bitcoin’s market. If Bitcoin enters a downturn, its treasury value will shrink, and its options revenue potential will be compressed. Second, investors may be assessing the long-term financial costs of its aggressive financing strategies. Collateral loans and equity financing solve immediate issues but entail interest expenses and potential obligations to preferred shareholders, forming long-term financial burdens. Lastly, its business model, especially the complex derivatives revenue strategies, remains a “black box” for many investors, and its risk control and long-term sustainability need more cycles of verification.

Looking ahead, Metaplanet stands at a crossroads of opportunity and challenge. Its success demonstrates that beyond MicroStrategy’s “pure accumulation” model, there exists a differentiated path of “accumulation + production.” This has strong demonstrative significance for Asian and global listed companies seeking transformation or asset allocation innovation. However, the challenges are equally severe: it must continuously prove its risk management capabilities in derivatives strategies, avoid major losses in extreme market conditions, maintain a delicate financing balance to prevent over-leverage, and most importantly, convert its business model’s success from financial data into stable shareholder returns and stock price growth to truly earn long-term capital trust.

Metaplanet’s story has long transcended that of an ordinary Japanese company. It is an aggressive experiment in corporate financial paradigms, monetary asset cognition, and financial engineering limits. Whether ultimately recognized as a trendsetter or an overly risky adventurer, it has already provided a controversial yet inspiring example for the global business community on how to embrace Bitcoin as an emerging asset class. In the increasingly institutionalized narrative of Bitcoin, Metaplanet is writing its own unique chapter in its own way.