Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has expanded its Bitcoin holdings with the purchase of 797 BTC, after spending approximately 13.8 billion yen, which is worth around $93 million.
The company acquired Bitcoin at an average price of around $117,000 per unit.
Aiming for “Escape Velocity”
Following the latest acquisition, Metaplanet currently holds 16,352 BTC, equivalent to approximately $1.64 billion. It maintains its position as the world’s fifth-largest publicly traded corporate BTC holder, according to data shared by BitcoinTreasuries. The accumulation now comes just a week after the Tokyo-listed company purchased 2,205 BTC.
The firm, which shifted from hotel operations to Bitcoin treasury management last year, has been accelerating its accumulation strategy amid rising institutional interest in crypto assets. Metaplanet has set an ambitious target to control over 210,000 BTC by 2027, which is around 1% of the total Bitcoin supply.
Metaplanet had previously revealed its plans to leverage its growing Bitcoin reserves to acquire cash-generating businesses, even potentially including a digital bank in Japan.
Last week, Gerovich told the Financial Times that the company is racing to accumulate as much BTC as possible, while describing it as a “Bitcoin gold rush” to reach “escape velocity” and maintain a lead over competitors. The exec also said that he would never sell the crypto asset.
“We think of it as a Bitcoin gold rush. We need to accumulate as much Bitcoin as we can to get to a point where we have reached escape velocity, and it just makes it very difficult for others to catch up.”
Metaplanet’s Ambitious Bitcoin Plan
In its next phase, Metaplanet aims to use the crypto asset as collateral to access financing, similar to how securities or government bonds are used. The goal will be to deploy these funds to buy profitable businesses aligned with its strategy. While crypto-backed lending remains rare in traditional banking, experiments like Standard Chartered’s pilot with OKX suggest growing institutional interest.
Gerovich ruled out issuing convertible debt to fund growth, preferring options like preferred shares to avoid repayment tied to volatile share prices. The firm said that it envisions digital banking services as a future area of expansion, and aims to deliver superior retail banking options in Japan using its BTC-backed leverage.
