Original author: Token Dispatch, Thejaswini MA
Original translation: Block unicorn 
There’s something uniquely Japanese about a company that once operated love hotels now positioning itself as Japan’s gateway to Bitcoin.
Metaplanet’s journey from hospitality to holding digital assets reads like a boardroom thriller — the protagonist switches from house keys to private keys.
In just over a year, Metaplanet has transformed from a struggling hotel company to the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder in Asia and the 11th largest in the world.
While the headlines focus on the bitcoin purchases, the real heart of the story is how a traditional Japanese company navigated regulatory restrictions, shareholder skepticism and market volatility to execute what may be the boldest corporate strategy transformation in recent years.
Origins: A company in search of a purpose
The story of Metaplanet, a hotel company that operates hotels across Japan, began not with grand ambitions but with mundane realities.
The business model is simple: provide accommodation, collect income, and repeat the cycle.
It is neither revolutionary nor groundbreaking.
Just the kind of stable, predictable business that Japanese companies have excelled at for decades.
However, the companys financial performance tells a different story. Metaplanets stock price has been depressed for a long time, its hotel assets have underperformed, and management is looking for a new direction. By early 2024, the company is ripe for reinvention.
Simon Gerovich, an investment-banking veteran, joined Metaplanet with a vision that might have seemed outlandish to the hotel’s guests: to transform the company into Japan’s MicroStrategy.
The awakening of Bitcoin
Metaplanet’s Bitcoin journey began in May 2024, when the company announced its first purchase of 117.7 Bitcoins, worth approximately $7.2 million. It was a strategic shift, announced with the solemnity of a corporate manifesto.
The company has adopted what it calls a “Bitcoin reserve strategy”, positioning the cryptocurrency as its primary corporate reserve asset. This decision was accompanied by a comprehensive restructuring of the company’s operations and philosophy.
They now have more Bitcoin than El Salvador.
Just think about it, a Japanese hotel company owns more Bitcoin than a country that has made Bitcoin legal tender.
Metaplanet has been very steady in its Bitcoin accumulation since its initial purchase:
May 2024: Purchase an additional 23.35 Bitcoins
July 2024: Purchase another 20.381 Bitcoins
August 2024: 21.88 Bitcoins
September 2024: Multiple purchases totaling over 100 Bitcoins
December 2024: 1,762 Bitcoins (starting to take it seriously)
Q1 2025: 5,034 Bitcoins in three months (full force)
May 2025: After purchasing 1,241 Bitcoins, holdings reach 6,796
Their average cost? About $89,492 per Bitcoin. Pretty good timing considering where prices are right now.
Metaplanet has now become the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in Japan and one of the most significant Bitcoin holders among listed companies worldwide.
A rise in the price of Bitcoin in 2024 means that the value of Metaplanets holdings has increased significantly, bringing unrealized gains that far exceed its traditional hotel revenue.
Data for the first quarter of 2025
Record operating profit: 592 million yen profit on 877 million yen revenue
Bitcoin revenue: 770 million yen from option premium (88% of total revenue)
Hotel operating income: only 104 million yen (12% of revenue)
Bitcoin holdings: 6,796 (1,762 by the end of 2024)
Unrealized Bitcoin losses: 7.4 billion yen in the first quarter, but reversed to a 13.5 billion yen gain by May 12
What is Bitcoin Income? In simple terms, they sell cash-secured Bitcoin put options, collect a premium, and simultaneously buy more Bitcoin at a lower price when the option is exercised.
Their stock price? Up 3,000% since they began their Bitcoin journey. Meanwhile, traditional hotel stocks may still be struggling to recover from their 2020 lows.
While Bitcoin itself has performed well during this period, Metaplanet’s gain of over 3,000% has far outstripped Bitcoin’s returns, suggesting that investors are willing to pay a premium for:
Their innovative financing mechanism
Execution of the “BTC Yield” Strategy
Opportunities to gain exposure to Bitcoin within the Japanese regulatory framework
Companies’ ability to amplify their Bitcoin exposure
Where does the money come from?
Lets explain briefly.
1. Dynamic Strike Price Warrants (Subtleties)
They sold 210 million warrants to investors
These warrants will only be converted into shares if Metaplanets share price rises.
Result: Shareholder dilution only occurs when everyone is making money
They raised 76.6 billion yen in this way without issuing shares at a price below market price.
2. Zero coupon bonds (free money)
They borrow money and pay 0% interest
Why would anyone want to borrow money for free? Because they have potential upside if Bitcoin surges
Latest news: 3.6 billion yen borrowed at 0% interest
3. Bitcoin income generation (let Bitcoin make money on its own)
They sell “insurance” (put options secured by cash) on Bitcoin.
If Bitcoin plummets, they are forced to buy more (which is exactly what they want).
If Bitcoin doesn’t crash, they keep the option premium.
In the first quarter of 2025, 88% of revenue came from this strategy.
4. Hotel business cash flow
They still own some hotels and generate 104 million yen in revenue per quarter.
All of this cash goes directly into buying Bitcoin.
Positive Feedback Loop
Use the raised funds to buy Bitcoin.
Bitcoin price rises → stock prices rise.
Stock price goes up → more warrants can be sold.
Use the warrant funds to buy more Bitcoin.
Repeat the above process.
Why does this work?
They only issue new shares (warrants) when the stock price rises.
They borrow money at zero interest (zero coupon bonds).
They make money from the volatility of Bitcoin (options trading).
Everything feeds back into a cycle of buying more Bitcoin.
If Bitcoin crashes and the stock price drops, the whole mechanism stops working. No one will buy the warrants, the bonds become hard to sell, and they can’t finance more Bitcoin purchases.
When asked about concerns about the share price, Grovich responded: Were just getting started. Given that their current holdings are larger than the entire country, theres no doubting the strength of their confidence.
Metaplanet also announced plans to issue another $21 million in bonds to EVO FUND. This is their 14th bond issuance to date. These bonds? Naturally, they will be zero interest, because who needs that kind of yield when you have Bitcoin?
The company is setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in Florida, Metaplanet Treasury Corp, and plans to raise $250 million to expand its bitcoin purchasing capabilities outside of Japan. Apparently, one country is no longer enough to satisfy their purchasing desires.
Comparison with MicroStrategy
Metaplanet is not hedging. Instead of a 50% Bitcoin, 50% hotel strategy, they are all-in on the Orange Currency (Bitcoin) strategy. Their entire business model is now:
Raising funds
Buy Bitcoin
Generate income from Bitcoin volatility
Repeat the above process
Metaplanet’s strategy is clearly inspired by MicroStrategy’s transformation under Michael Saylor. However, the Japanese company operates in a different regulatory and cultural environment, which presents both opportunities and limitations.
Metaplanet introduced their own key performance indicator (KPI) called “BTC Yield” - a measure of the growth of Bitcoin holdings per share over time. The first quarter of 2025 showed a 170% BTC yield. This means that despite the company issuing more shares, shareholders hold 170% more Bitcoin per share.
In contrast, Metaplanet achieved in 3 months what MicroStrategy took 19 months to accomplish. Their market capitalization grew 3.8 times faster than MicroStrategy.
Unlike MicroStrategy, which benefits from mature U.S. capital markets and a sophisticated convertible bond market, Metaplanet must contend with Japan’s more conservative financial environment. Japan’s corporate bond market is underdeveloped, and retail investors’ appetite for leveraged Bitcoin investments may be more limited.
Metaplanet also benefits from being first in the Japanese market. As the main Bitcoin proxy among Japanese listed companies, it attracts domestic and foreign capital seeking exposure to Bitcoin in Japan.
The company’s hospitality background also provides a narrative buffer. Unlike pure play Bitcoin companies, Metaplanet retains an operating business that could theoretically prop up the company if its Bitcoin strategy fails. This could provide some comfort to more conservative investors.
Our View
Metaplanet’s transformation represents a profound evolution of business in the digital age. This is a company that realized that the traditional business model was becoming obsolete and made an aggressive bet on an emerging asset class.
Metaplanet essentially took MicroStrategy’s playbook and optimized it for the Japanese market. MicroStrategy issued convertible bonds, while Metaplanet pioneered dynamic strike price warrants that only dilute shareholders if the stock price rises. The result? A more efficient Bitcoin accumulation engine favored by Japan’s regulatory advantages.
The audacity is remarkable. Most corporate transformations involve incremental changes — retailers moving online, media companies embracing streaming. Metaplanet, on the other hand, completely abandoned its core competency, betting the company on an asset that didn’t exist when it was founded.
The success or failure of this strategy will largely depend on the long-term trajectory of Bitcoin. If Bitcoin continues to be adopted by institutions and governments, Metaplanets early positioning may prove to be visionary. The company will essentially transform into a leveraged company to take advantage of Bitcoins popularity.
If Bitcoin stagnates or faces a regulatory crackdown, Metaplanet’s strategy could prove disastrous. The company would be left with a shrunken hotel business and huge unrealized losses on its cryptocurrency holdings.
What is certain is that Metaplanet has created a template for enterprise adoption of Bitcoin that other companies will study — both as inspiration and as a cautionary tale. In a world where traditional business models are constantly being disrupted, perhaps the most rational strategy is to fully embrace that disruption.
Sometimes, survival requires more than adaptation, but radical transformation. Metaplanet’s management is betting that Bitcoin represents the future of value storage. Time will tell whether they are farsighted or reckless.
But in an era when stagnation often means regression, there is something admirable about the courage of a company that risks everything for what it believes in. Whether this transformation leads to prosperity or peril remains the most fascinating corporate story in Japan today.
