Metaplanet spent over $45M to lose $1B investing in bitcoin

Metaplanet has paid over $45 million to operate a bitcoin (BTC) treasury company that has a $1 billion unrealized loss from investing in BTC.

The Japanese company that emulated Michael Saylor’s Strategy loaded its purchases far higher than Strategy’s $75,385 cost basis. It paid 36% more, to be precise.

Indeed, Metaplanet has paid $4.41 billion to buy 43,000 BTC at an average cost basis of $102,502 per coin.

Read more: Metaplanet pitches stock buybacks after 96% mNAV decline

For context, BTC closed Friday near $77,600. That simple reality means that the company has lost 24% on its BTC investment, underperforming even a corporate treasury of idle cash in a bank account.

Since Metaplanet started purchasing BTC in April 2024, its fiscal reports disclose at least ¥7 billion (USD$45 million) worth of expenses to operate its treasury operations: ¥4.5 billion of issuance costs, ¥1.9 billion of interest to service its BTC-collateralized credit facility, ¥298 million of dividends to preferred shareholders who provided capital to buy BTC, and ¥4.8 billion of SG&A (selling, general, and administrative costs).

Those expenses are at least $45 million and, depending on the attribution of SG&A across BTC investment activities relative to other business operations, could rise above $70 million.

Although Metaplanet’s common stock has roughly tripled in price since management made particularly heavy purchases of BTC for the first time in October 2024, shareholders have experienced a rollercoaster ride. Shares have appreciated since 2024, yet closed this weekend down 82% from their June 2025 high.

After issuing traditional, coupon-bearing bonds to fund its BTC purchases in the summer of 2024, by late that year and into 2025, Metaplanet pivoted to more exotic, $0 coupon bonds coupled with moving-strike warrants as it increased its financial leverage. 

As the company increased its BTC purchases without increasing literal cash obligations to bondholders, common shareholders increasingly shouldered financing costs via an overhang of dilutive convertibles.

Eventually, the trick of low cash outlays reversed as Metaplanet returned to traditional borrowing. By June 30, 2026, it had drawn a dangerous 83% of its available credit line: $414 million from its $500 million BTC-backed facility.

As the company rushed to make sure it had enough cash, its interest burden rose quickly. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, interest expense reached ¥934 million — more than 300 times higher than its ¥3 million interest expense during the first half of 2025.

With rising interest costs and waning appetites from common shareholders to shoulder additional dilution, all to service an investment that is more than $1 billion underwater, Metaplanet’s stock price has understandably declined 14% year to date, 61% over the past 12 months, and 82% from its June 2025 high.

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