Metaplanet burns ¥11.5 billion to prove a point to rating agencies

Metaplanet sold 10,000 bitcoin in the third quarter, then repurchased 11,000 coins at a higher price, a round trip the company says was staged to prove to credit rating agencies that its reserves can be turned into cash. The Tokyo-listed treasury firm disclosed the trade on Monday, October 5, in a TSE notice alongside the launch of a new financing strategy.

The arithmetic is not cheap. Metaplanet sold the coins for ¥124.7 billion, an average of ¥12.47 million per bitcoin, then bought the larger batch back for ¥149.9 billion, averaging ¥13.63 million per coin, roughly 9% higher. Replacing the original 10,000 coins at the repurchase price implies an adverse price gap of about ¥11.57 billion, a figure analysts have computed from the company’s own averages. The coins sold had also been bought above the sale price, so the disposal produced a capital loss for U.S. tax purposes, with an estimated deferred tax asset of about $97 million at subsidiaries of its American holding company. The company stressed the estimate is preliminary, unaudited and may not be recognized.

Chief executive Simon Gerovich said the point was liquidity, not paper profit. “Rating agencies and credit investors ask one question of a Bitcoin company: can that Bitcoin be turned into cash to meet obligations, and will it be? We answered by doing it.” The company said the transaction demonstrated it can hold cash exceeding the outstanding principal of its bonds, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities. At quarter end those liabilities, net of cash and dollar stablecoins, stood at ¥122.4 billion, against sale proceeds of ¥124.7 billion. The debts were not repaid; the cash went straight back into bitcoin.

The move reads as a direct answer to how rating agencies have treated the sector. S&P assigned Strategy, the largest bitcoin treasury company, a B- issuer rating in October 2025, the first for a bitcoin treasury firm, citing low dollar liquidity and warning that a downturn could force sales at depressed prices. Metaplanet’s filing cites a previously rated overseas peer as precedent, arguing that a treasury reluctant to sell may see its bitcoin given little weight in a credit assessment. Strategy itself approved a framework in June permitting bitcoin sales of up to $1.25 billion and had sold 6,948 BTC for about $432.5 million by August.

Metaplanet ended September 30 with 44,000 BTC, worth about $3.7 billion at the time of the announcement, making it the second-largest listed corporate bitcoin holder after Strategy. It now says it intends to pursue a credit rating, with the new Net Interest Income Strategy raising capital through perpetual preferred stock, bonds it calls BitBonds and bitcoin-collateralized credit facilities. The company cautioned that it has no assurance it will receive a rating or at what level.