Metaplanet's Bitcoin Story: Hotels to Hodling 🏨
Happy Sunday dispatchers!
There's something distinctly Japanese about a company that once operated love hotels now positioning itself as the nation's gateway to Bitcoin.
MetaPlanet's journey from hospitality to holding digital assets reads like a boardroom thriller — one where the protagonist trades room keys for private keys.
In just over a year, MetaPlanet has transformed from a struggling hospitality firm into largest publicly traded bitcoin holder in Asia and ranks 11th globally.
While the headlines focus on the Bitcoin purchases, the story lies in how a traditional Japanese company navigated regulatory constraints, shareholder scepticism, and market volatility to execute what may be the most audacious corporate strategy shift in recent memory.
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Origins: A Company in Search of Purpose
MetaPlanet's story begins not with grand ambitions but with mundane reality. Founded as a hospitality company, it operated hotels across Japan.
The business model was straightforward: provide accommodation, collect revenue, repeat.
Nothing revolutionary, nothing groundbreaking.
Just the kind of steady, predictable business that Japanese corporations have mastered for decades.
However, the company's financial performance tells a different tale. MetaPlanet's stock had been languishing, its hospitality assets underperforming, and its management searching for a new direction. By early 2024, the company was ripe for reinvention.
Simon Gerovich, an investment banking veteran who joined MetaPlanet with a vision that would have seemed absurd to its hotel guests: transforming the company into Japan's answer to MicroStrategy.
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The Bitcoin Awakening
MetaPlanet's Bitcoin journey began in May 2024, when the company announced its first purchase of 117.7 BTC for approximately $7.2 million. This was a strategic pivot announced with all the solemnity of a corporate manifesto.
The company adopted what it called a "Bitcoin treasury strategy," positioning the cryptocurrency as its primary treasury reserve asset. This decision came with a comprehensive restructuring of the company's operations and philosophy.
They now own more Bitcoin than El Salvador.
Let that sink in. A Japanese hotel company owns more Bitcoin than an entire country that made Bitcoin legal tender.
Since that initial purchase, MetaPlanet has been remarkably consistent in its Bitcoin accumulation.
May 2024: Additional 23.35 BTC purchase
July 2024: Another 20.381 BTC acquired
August 2024: 21.88 BTC added to holdings
September 2024: Multiple purchases totalling over 100 BTC
December 2024: Reached 1,762 BTC (getting serious)
Q1 2025: Added 5,034 BTC in three months (absolutely sending it)
May 2025: Hit 6,796 BTC after a 1,241 BTC shopping spree
Their average cost basis? About $89,492 per Bitcoin. Not bad timing considering where we are now.
Metaplanet is now Japan's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, and one of the most significant globally amongst listed companies.
Bitcoin's price appreciation throughout 2024 meant that MetaPlanet's holdings increased substantially in value, providing the company with unrealised gains that dwarfed its traditional hospitality revenues.
Q1 2025 numbers
Record operating profit: ¥592 million on ¥877 million revenue
Bitcoin Income Generation: ¥770 million (88% of total revenue) through option premium harvesting
Hotel Operations: Only ¥104 million (12% of revenue)
Bitcoin holdings: 6,796 BTC (up from 1,762 at end of 2024)
Unrealised Bitcoin loss: ¥7.4 billion in Q1, but reversed to ¥13.5 billion gain by May 12
What's Bitcoin Income Generation? Basically, they're selling cash-secured put options on Bitcoin, collecting premiums while positioning themselves to buy more BTC at lower prices if the options get exercised.
Their stock price? Up 3000% since they started this Bitcoin journey. Meanwhile, the traditional hotel stocks are probably still trying to recover from 2020.
While Bitcoin itself has performed well during this period, MetaPlanet's 3,000%+ gain vastly exceeds Bitcoin's returns, indicating investors are paying a premium for:
Their innovative funding mechanisms
Execution of the "BTC Yield" strategy
Access to Bitcoin exposure within Japanese regulatory framework
The company's ability to lever up Bitcoin exposure
Where’s the Money?
Let’s simplify.
1. Moving-Strike Warrants (The Genius Part)
They sell 210 million "warrants" to investors
These warrants only turn into shares when MetaPlanet's stock price goes UP
Result: They only dilute shareholders when everyone's making money
They've raised ¥76.6 billion this way with ZERO discount to market price
2. Zero-Interest Bonds (Free Money)
They borrow money and pay 0% interest
Why would anyone lend for free? Because they get potential upside if Bitcoin moons
Latest: ¥3.6 billion borrowed at 0% interest
3. Bitcoin Income Generation (Making Bitcoin Pay For Itself)
They sell "insurance" on Bitcoin (cash-secured puts)
If Bitcoin crashes, they're forced to buy more (which they want anyway)
If Bitcoin doesn't crash, they keep the premium
88% of their Q1 revenue came from this strategy
4. Hotel Business Cash Flow
Still own some hotels generating ¥104 million quarterly
All this cash goes straight into Bitcoin
The feedback loop
Buy Bitcoin with raised money
Bitcoin goes up → Stock price goes up
High stock price → Can sell more warrants
Use warrant money to buy more Bitcoin
Repeat
Why it works?
They only issue shares when stock is rising (warrants)
They borrow money for free (zero-interest bonds)
They make money from Bitcoin volatility (options)
Everything feeds back into buying more Bitcoin
If Bitcoin crashes hard and their stock falls, the whole machine stops working. No one buys warrants, bonds become harder to sell, and they can't fund more Bitcoin purchases.
When asked about share price concerns, Gerovich's response: "We're just getting started." With holdings now surpassing entire nations, hard to argue with the confidence.
Metaplanet also announced plans for another $21 million bond sale to EVO FUND. That's their 14th bond issuance to date. These bonds? Zero interest, naturally, because who needs yield when you have Bitcoin?
The company is establishing Metaplanet Treasury Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary in Florida. They're planning to raise $250 million to expand their Bitcoin buying power beyond Japan. Apparently, one country wasn't enough for their shopping spree.
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The MicroStrategy Comparison
Metaplanet isn't hedging their bets. They're not 50% Bitcoin, 50% hotels. They've gone full send on the orange coin strategy. Their entire business model is now:
Raise money
Buy Bitcoin
Generate income from Bitcoin volatility
Repeat
MetaPlanet's strategy clearly draws inspiration from MicroStrategy's transformation under Michael Saylor. However, the Japanese company operates in a different regulatory and cultural environment that creates both opportunities and constraints.
MetaPlanet introduced their own KPI called "BTC Yield"—measuring how much their Bitcoin per share grows over time. Q1 2025 showed a 170% BTC Yield. That means shareholders got 170% more Bitcoin exposure per share despite the company issuing more equity.
Compare that to MicroStrategy: Metaplanet achieves in 3 months what takes MicroStrategy 19 months. Their market Net Asset Value is growing 3.8x faster than MSTR.
Read: Saylor Strategy: 0️⃣ Interest, ♾️ Bitcoin?
Unlike MicroStrategy, which benefits from a mature US capital market with sophisticated convertible bond markets, MetaPlanet must navigate Japan's more conservative financial landscape. Japanese corporate bond markets are less developed, and retail investor appetite for leveraged Bitcoin plays may be more limited.
MetaPlanet also benefits from being first to market in Japan. As the country's primary Bitcoin proxy amongst listed companies, it attracts capital from both domestic and international investors seeking Japan-focused Bitcoin exposure.
The company's hospitality heritage also provides a narrative cushion. Unlike pure-play Bitcoin companies, MetaPlanet retains operational businesses that could theoretically support the company if Bitcoin strategy fails. This may provide some comfort to more conservative investors.
Token Dispatch View 🔍
MetaPlanet's transformation represents something profound about corporate evolution in the digital age. Here's a company that recognised its traditional business model was reaching obsolescence and made a radical bet on an emerging asset class.
MetaPlanet essentially took MicroStrategy's playbook and refined it for the Japanese market. Where MicroStrategy issues convertible bonds, MetaPlanet pioneered moving-strike warrants that only dilute shareholders when the stock price rises. The result? A more efficient Bitcoin accumulation engine wrapped in Japanese regulatory advantages.
The audacity is remarkable. Most corporate pivots involve incremental shifts — a retailer moving online, a media company embracing streaming. MetaPlanet abandoned its core competency entirely, betting the company on an asset that didn't exist when it was founded.
Whether this strategy succeeds depends largely on Bitcoin's long-term trajectory. If Bitcoin continues its adoption curve amongst institutions and governments, MetaPlanet's early positioning could prove prescient. The company would essentially have transformed itself into a leveraged play on Bitcoin acceptance.
If Bitcoin stagnates or faces regulatory crackdowns, MetaPlanet's strategy could prove catastrophic. The company would be left with a diminished hospitality business and substantial unrealised losses on its cryptocurrency holdings.
What's certain is that MetaPlanet has created a template for corporate Bitcoin adoption that other companies will study — whether as inspiration or cautionary tale. In a world where traditional business models face constant disruption, perhaps the most rational strategy is to embrace the disruption entirely.
Sometimes survival requires not just adaptation, but complete metamorphosis. MetaPlanet's management made a bet that Bitcoin represents the future of value storage. Time will determine whether they were visionary or simply reckless.
But in an era where standing still often means moving backwards, there's something admirable about a company bold enough to risk everything on its convictions. Whether that transformation leads to prosperity or peril remains the most compelling corporate story in Japan today.
Week That Was 📆
Thursday: The Coinbase's Conquest 🏆
Wednesday: Doodles' DOOD Dive 📉
Tuesday: Nakamoto Enters BTC Treasury War 🥷🏼
Monday: Bitcoin En Route ATH? ⚡
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