Metaplanet sells 10,000 bitcoin, buys back 11,000 to lift holdings to 44,000 BTC

Japan-listed Metaplanet sold 10,000 bitcoin during the third quarter and then bought back 11,000, the company said in a Tokyo Stock Exchange filing on Oct. 5. The trades left it with a net gain of 1,000 BTC and total holdings of 44,000 BTC as of Sept. 30. The same day, it introduced a "Net Interest Income Strategy" to earn the spread from investing in preferred shares and similar securities issued by other bitcoin companies.

Holdings have grown from 30,823 BTC at the end of September 2025 to 35,102 at the end of December, 40,177 at the end of March and 43,000 at the end of June. The aggregate cost basis is 684.452 billion yen. BTC Yield, the company's core metric measuring growth in bitcoin per fully diluted share, was 11.3% for the quarter, with bitcoin per 1,000 fully diluted shares rising from 0.0263554 at the end of June to 0.0293312 at the end of September.

Sale proceeds topped the company's debt

Metaplanet sold the 10,000 BTC at an average of 12,470,098 yen each, for total proceeds of 124.7 billion yen. The company said the amount exceeded the aggregate outstanding principal of its bonds, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities, and that it held the proceeds in cash. The bonds and borrowings were not repaid in the transaction and remain outstanding on their existing terms.

The company tied the sale to its creditworthiness. It said credit rating agencies and fixed income investors look not only at whether bitcoin can be sold in the market, but whether the issuer has the ability and willingness to actually sell it when needed and use the proceeds to meet its obligations. It said it took into account a previously published issuer credit rating of an overseas peer, which indicated that a policy of not selling bitcoin could weigh on how that bitcoin is treated in credit assessments. Metaplanet said it intends to pursue a credit rating, but added there is no assurance it will obtain one or of the timing.

Buying back cost 1.16 million yen more per coin

The sale and the repurchase were carried out as separate transactions rather than a simultaneous swap. The company said it first completed the sale and held the cash, then bought bitcoin back later. It repurchased 11,000 BTC at an average of 13,626,928 yen each, for a total of 149.896 billion yen. That is 1,156,830 yen more per coin than the sale price, which the company attributed to the rise in bitcoin's price between the two trades.

The company disclosed that the sale produced a capital loss for U.S. tax purposes, because the bitcoin it sold had been acquired at prices above the sale price. It estimated that a deferred tax asset of approximately $97 million may be recognized at subsidiaries of its U.S. holding company, but said the figure is preliminary, has not been reviewed by its auditor, and that whether it will be recognized and its amount have not been determined. If recognized, it could offset all or part of the gap between the sale and repurchase prices and transaction costs, the company said.

10% to 15% of assets for other bitcoin firms' preferreds

Under the Net Interest Income Strategy, Metaplanet will invest money raised through preferred stock, corporate bonds (BitBonds) and a bitcoin-collateralized credit facility in assets expected to generate stable income, and earn the difference between their yield and its cost of capital. The main targets are preferred securities issued by bitcoin treasury companies and similar issuers, managed within a strategic investment allocation of approximately 10% to 15% of total assets. Bitcoin will remain the core asset at approximately 85% to 90% of total assets and will be held separately for the long term. The company said it will take into account in its risk management that the value of these investments may move with the price of bitcoin.

The company cited access to investors in Japan and to U.S. capital markets as reasons it can keep funding costs low. It said Metaplanet Securities, acquired this year, serves as its own platform for issuing and distributing bonds and preferred shares, and that once its strategic investment in Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise (SLE) closes, it expects to gain access to U.S. capital markets. A definitive agreement for the SLE investment has been signed, but closing conditions remain. It also pointed to yen funding costs being lower than dollar funding, saying that when it invests yen funding in dollar assets it may hedge all or part of the currency exposure depending on conditions. The strategy was announced alongside a further revision of the capital allocation policy the company set on Oct. 28, 2025, and revised once on March 16, 2026.

Revenue from the Bitcoin Income Generation business, which uses bitcoin options, was 848 million yen in the third quarter, less than half the 1.7473 billion yen recorded in the second quarter. Revenue for the first nine months totaled 5.565 billion yen. The company said progress to date has fallen short of its initial expectations, but it did not revise the full-year forecast it issued on Aug. 13. Metaplanet shares closed at 297 yen in Tokyo on Oct. 5, up 2.1% from 291 yen in the previous session.

Bitcoin traded around 13.63 million yen on Japanese exchange bitFlyer at about 8:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 5, roughly 12% below Metaplanet's average purchase price. At the same time, it traded at 116,366,000 won on Korean exchange Upbit.