Imagine borrowing money when your main asset is down twenty percent. Most people would call that crazy. But in the strange new world of corporate Bitcoin treasuries, that’s exactly what Tokyo-listed Metaplanet just did — again.
Late November 2025, with Bitcoin hovering in the mid-80s after a nasty correction, the company quietly drew another $130 million from its Bitcoin-backed credit facility. That brings total borrowings to $230 million out of an available $500 million line. And yes, every single dollar is going straight into more BTC.
Going All-In While Underwater: The Metaplanet Playbook
Let’s be honest — on paper this looks insane. Their average entry price sits at roughly $108,000 per coin. Current spot? Around $87,500 at the time of the announcement. That’s an unrealized loss approaching 20%. Most CFOs would be sweating bullets and looking for the exit. Metaplanet’s management instead said “perfect time to double down.”
But this isn’t blind gambling. It’s a calculated, highly leveraged bet on Bitcoin’s long-term dominance — one that mirrors (and openly copies) Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy playbook, just with a Japanese twist.
How the Debt Machine Actually Works
The loan facility is surprisingly flexible. Interest is dollar-denominated with a daily renewing term, meaning Metaplanet can pay it back whenever they want without penalty. The collateral? Their existing Bitcoin stack, of course.
Think of it like an endlessly reusable crypto credit card with a $500 million limit. Spend it, buy Bitcoin, watch the collateral value rise (hopefully), borrow more, repeat. As long as Bitcoin doesn’t crash hard enough to trigger margin calls, the wheel keeps spinning.
“We are not here to trade Bitcoin. We are here to accumulate it as a core treasury asset for the next century.”
— Paraphrased Metaplanet management sentiment
The Share Issuance Side of the Equation
Debt isn’t the only lever they’re pulling. Just five days before this latest borrowing, Metaplanet announced a $135 million Class B perpetual share offering. These shares pay no dividend and never mature — basically convertible-like instruments that dilute existing holders but bring in fresh capital to buy… you guessed it… more Bitcoin.
It’s the same hybrid strategy we’ve watched MicroStrategy perfect over the last four years: sell equity when the stock premium to NAV is high, sell debt when rates are attractive, deploy everything into BTC, repeat until you own a psychologically important percentage of the total supply.
Trying to Squeeze Yield Out of Bitcoin
Here’s where it gets really interesting. They’re not just hodling and praying. Management has started talking openly about building a “BTC income business.” Translation: using their coins as collateral to sell covered calls and other options, pocketing premium while (theoretically) keeping upside if Bitcoin moons.
- Collateralize BTC → sell out-of-the-money calls
- Collect premium in stablecoins or USD
- Use premium to either reduce debt cost or buy fractional more BTC
- Pray spot never hits your strike price
It’s a page straight out of the sophisticated DeFi playbook, except executed by a publicly traded company under Japanese accounting rules. If they pull it off at scale, they could generate 4-8% annualized “yield” on their Bitcoin stack without ever selling the underlying asset.
The Elephant in the Room: Liquidation Risk
Of course, the flip side is brutal. If Bitcoin experiences another 50-60% drawdown (not impossible — it’s done it three times already), the loan-to-value ratio blows out and lenders start knocking.
At current prices, rough math suggests they’re probably sitting at 45-50% LTV. That gives them decent breathing room — Bitcoin would need to drop below ~$45,000 before forced selling begins. Possible? Yes. Likely in the next cycle? Many macro analysts think so if we get a full-blown recession.
In my view, that’s the real trade here. Metaplanet isn’t just betting Bitcoin goes up forever. They’re betting the next major leg down either doesn’t happen, or happens slowly enough that they can keep issuing equity and rolling debt to stay alive.
How Metaplanet Stacks Up Against the Original
| Metric | MicroStrategy | Metaplanet |
| Bitcoin Held | ~446,400 BTC | ~8,888 BTC (rapidly growing) |
| Avg Purchase Price | ~$41,000 | ~$108,000 |
| Unrealized P&L | +180% | -19% |
| Debt Raised for BTC | >$8 billion | $230 million (so far) |
| Market Premium to NAV | ~2.8x | ~1.4x |
The table tells the story. MicroStrategy is the mature, battle-tested version that already survived the 2022 wipeout. Metaplanet is the scrappy newcomer trying to catch up at the worst possible entry prices. Yet the market is rewarding both with premiums to their underlying Bitcoin NAV — meaning investors are paying extra for the leveraged exposure and the narrative.
Why Japan, Why Now?
Japan is quietly becoming one of the most fascinating crypto jurisdictions on earth. Lifetime low interest rates for decades, a weakening yen, and a corporate sector sitting on mountains of cash with zero yield. For many Japanese executives, Bitcoin is starting to look like the only asset that can actually preserve purchasing power over decades.
Metaplanet isn’t alone. We’ve seen similar (smaller) moves from companies like Remixpoint and CyberAgent. But Metaplanet is by far the most aggressive and the most vocal. They’ve basically turned themselves into “MicroStrategy Asia” — complete with the English-language X account, the constant BTC yield updates, and the shameless copying of Saylor-isms.
What Happens If They’re Right?
If Bitcoin does what the maximalists believe — $500k, $1 million, pick your number — Metaplanet shareholders win bigger than almost anyone else on earth. The combination of leverage, options premium, and aggressive accumulation could turn today’s $800 million market cap into tens of billions.
If they’re wrong? The downside is theoretically unlimited. Forced liquidation, massive dilution, bankruptcy — the full horror movie. Though in practice, Japan’s corporate governance rules and creditor protections make total wipeout less likely than in some jurisdictions.
Personally, I find the asymmetry fascinating. You’re buying a highly volatile stock that is itself leveraged to the most volatile major asset in the world, in a country with negative real rates, run by executives who have fully drunk the Bitcoin Kool-Aid. It’s either genius or madness — and sometimes those look exactly the same until years later.
Final Thoughts: Conviction or Hubris?
I keep coming back to one question: would you borrow money at 8-10% effective cost to buy an asset that just dropped 20% from your average? Most sane people say no. But most sane people also never build outsized wealth in hyper-volatile markets.
Metaplanet’s management has made their bet crystal clear. They believe Bitcoin is going orders of magnitude higher and that short-term paper losses are meaningless noise. The market, for now, is giving them the capital to keep swinging for the fences.
Whether that makes them visionary or simply the latest cautionary tale in crypto’s long history of leveraged excess — only time will tell. But one thing is certain: in the weird new era of corporate Bitcoin adoption, moves like this are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Buckle up. The ride is just getting started.
