Japan’s Metaplanet looking to buy over 100 BTC with $6.8 million loan

Japan’s Metaplant is once again preparing to acquire Bitcoin as the flagship cryptocurrency continues to move towards $60,000.

The firm has secured a loan from one of its shareholders in this regard.

The loan for 1 billion Japanese yen, valued at approximately $6.8 million, came from MMXX Ventures, a stakeholder in the Japanese investment firm.

Per details shared by Metaplanet, the tenure of the loan is for six months, starting August 8, with a 0.1% interest per annum.  The firm plans to pay back the loan in one lump sum payment.

Considering the current price of Bitcoin, the loan would allow the firm to add 119.456 BTC to its holdings of 245.99 BTC.

The Bitcoin first strategy

Just days ago, the firm said it would raise  $70 million through a stock rights offering to aid in what it calls its Bitcoin-first strategy. The roadmap was initially unveiled in April 2024 in partnership with its investors, such as Sora Ventures, UTXO Management, and Morgan Creek Capital’s Mark Yusko.

The stock rights issue will aim to raise 10 billion Japanese yen, with 8.5 billion yen of that amount, worth $58.76 million, set for the Bitocin acquisition. 

Stock rights issues are meant to allow publicly listed firms to offer their shareholders the right to acquire additional shares at a discounted price. As such, common shareholders will be able to acquire new Metaplanet shares from September 6 to October 15 at an exercise price of 555 yen (~$4).

Since the announcement of Metplanet’s Bitcoin plans, the firm has made multiple periodic BTC purchases. The goal was to help the firm shield against economic depreciation.

The firm’s first BTC purchase for 1 billion yen, approximately $6.59M at the time, was executed on April 23. In July, it acquired 42.5 Bitcoin off the market for $2.5 million and moved on to buy another 21.88 BTC for $1.2 million later in the month.

On July 22, Metaplanet revealed it had completed the purchase of 20.38 BTC at an average price of 9,813,061 yen per BTC, pushing its BTC holdings to 245.99 BTC. 

With an average buying price of $65,145, the firm’s BTC holdings are currently down 12.8%, but that hasn’t slowed down the price of its shares. Metaplanet stocks are up 290% since it unveiled its Bitcoin ambitions and hit an all-time high of $20.50 on July 24.

Bitcoin in demand

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, is eyeing a $2 billion raise, with a portion of the funds to be used for BTC purchases. In an August 2 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm said it would sell its class A shares.

But it’s not just the corporate firms that are grabbing Bitcoin at the moment. On-chain analytics firm Santiment noted that whale transactions of BTC hit their highest levels since April 2024.

As the market tumbled on August 5 amidst fears of an economic recession, whale wallets holding between 10 to 1000 BTC “rapidly accumulated on the price dip,” per the analytics firm.

The post Japan’s Metaplanet looking to buy over 100 BTC with $6.8 million loan appeared first on Invezz