Metaplanet President Gerovich shares the journey from transforming a Japanese ryokan group into a Bitcoin gateway asset company

Japan-listed company Metaplanet becomes a new focal point in the global Bitcoin capital market. Within just one year, the company’s Bitcoin BTC holdings surged from 1,000 to 30,000 coins, making it the fourth-largest and the largest enterprise Bitcoin holder in Asia worldwide. Metaplanet President Simon Gerovich and Bitcoin strategy director Dylan LeClair jointly disclosed during a public panel discussion the company’s transformation from the hospitality industry to a leading Japanese Bitcoin gateway, and explained why Japan is poised to become the next incubator for Bitcoin financial innovation.

Metaplanet’s Transformation from Hospitality Industry to Japan’s Leading Bitcoin Gateway

The story of Metaplanet began in 2010 when Gerovich operated a chain of hotels in Southeast Asia and Japan, expanding to 30 hotels at one point. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought global travel to a halt, with revenues dropping to zero, plunging the company into unprecedented crisis. Facing a collapsing business model, Gerovich started rethinking the company’s future. During this period, he happened to listen to a podcast featuring Strategy CEO Michael Saylor, who advocates using Bitcoin as a core corporate asset strategy, and decided to transform Metaplanet from a traditional industry into a “Bitcoin capital company.”

30-Fold Increase in Holdings in One Year, Becoming the Fourth-Largest Corporate Bitcoin Holder Globally

In April 2024, Metaplanet officially shifted its strategy and rapidly accumulated large amounts of Bitcoin over the next 12 months. LeClair pointed out that during this year, not only did the company’s holdings grow thirtyfold, but it also completed approximately $3 billion in equity financing, causing its market cap to skyrocket from $15 million to 200 times that amount. He emphasized that Metaplanet has become one of Japan’s largest common stock issuers and has attracted high attention from domestic and international investors.

Metaplanet’s vision is to become a bridge between Japan’s $7 trillion of idle capital and the global Bitcoin economy. LeClair stated that although Bitcoin is highly volatile, the value creation from its upward fluctuations far exceeds traditional assets. Therefore, the company chooses to embrace volatility rather than avoid it. He predicts that in the future, global corporations will hold some form of Bitcoin, and companies willing to treat Bitcoin as a core reserve asset or denominate in Bitcoin will be very rare. Thus, Metaplanet’s positioning is highly forward-looking.

Creating Japan’s First “Digital Credit” Tools and Using Bitcoin Assets as a Breakthrough in the Fixed Income Market

To establish a deeper financial role in Japan, Metaplanet is promoting a new capital tool framework using its substantial Bitcoin asset balance sheet as a foundation, becoming Japan’s first issuer of “Digital Credit Tools.”

The company recently announced its sustainable priority shares, seen as an important milestone in its financial innovation. This instrument combines fixed income with an equity conversion mechanism, offering an annual dividend yield of 4.9%, and includes an embedded Bitcoin call option, regarded internally as one of the cheapest Bitcoin call options on the market.

Compared to traditional debt, which requires periodic interest payments and principal repayment at maturity, perpetual preferred shares do not need to repay principal, allowing the company to reduce refinancing risks and accumulate Bitcoin at stable costs over the long term. LeClair pointed out that Japan has long been in a low or even negative interest rate environment, and the fixed income market has lacked attractive tools for years. A yield above 5% is highly attractive to local investors. Therefore, Metaplanet believes that combining Bitcoin-backed yield products can create a significant financial breakthrough in Japan.

Metaplanet Floating Rate Securities to Launch Soon

Metaplanet is developing Metaplanet Floating Rate Securities, aiming to offer a new type of financial product in Japan with stable pricing, variable dividends, and risk levels between bank accounts and corporate bonds. The concept is to issue funds at about 5% cost and continuously buy Bitcoin. As long as Bitcoin’s long-term annualized appreciation rate exceeds the cost, a sustainable profit margin can be maintained. With increasing institutional demand, Metaplanet is positioning itself as Japan’s “Bitcoin gateway.” Gerovich stated that Japan’s financial system is undergoing a structural shift as more corporations begin to see Bitcoin as a long-term holding asset rather than a speculative commodity. He emphasized that the company’s transformation is not just a crisis response but a long-term strategic layout. Its goal is to become one of the world’s largest, most transparent, and pure Bitcoin capital companies. The hotel business was just the starting point; Bitcoin remains the core focus.

This article, where Metaplanet President Gerovich shares the journey from transforming a Japanese hotel group into a Bitcoin gateway asset company, first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.