Japan’s Metaplanet adds another $6.7m to their BTC reserves

Japanese budget hotel operator purchased $6.7 million worth of Bitcoin from investment firm Metaplanet. This brings total Bitcoin reserves to 639.50 BTC.

In a statement published on October 7, Metaplanet announced that it had purchased Bitcoin (BTC) worth ¥1 billion, or equal to 108,786 BTC. This is the second time this month that the firm has purchased ¥1 billion worth of Bitcoin for its cryptocurrency reserves.

Following its recent BTC purchases, the Tokyo-based firm currently holds 639.50 BTC in its reserves, worth approximately $40.54 million at current market prices.

Shares of the investment firm rose more than 10% shortly after announcing the purchase of Bitcoin, according to data from Google Finance.

The firm purchased a similar Bitcoin worth ¥1 billion on October 1, bringing Metaplanet’s reserves above 500 BTC for the first time in its cryptocurrency trading operations.

Not only that, Metaplanet announced on October 3 that it had entered into a Bitcoin put option trading agreement with Singaporean digital asset trading company QCP Capital.

As part of the deal, the Japanese firm sold 223 put options worth $62,000 to the Singaporean firm that expire on December 27, 2024. The sale gave Metaplanet a profit of 23.97 BTC in option premium.

Metaplanet announced earlier this year that it planned to start buying Bitcoin as a way to survive economic pressures in Japan. In May 2024, the country was facing high government debt levels, prolonged negative real interest rates, and a weakening currency.

Metaplanet isn’t the only Japanese firm turning to cryptocurrency to sustain its profits. More than 500 investment managers in Japan have considered investing in crypto, according to a June survey by Nomura and Laser Digital.

The survey also found that nearly half of respondents are open to using stablecoins for payments and daily transactions.