Metaplanet Stock Slides as Top Japanese Bitcoin Treasury Sets Up Shop in Miami

In brief

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet is expanding to the U.S.
Its Miami-based subsidiary will initially have $15 million in capital.
The firm meanwhile closed on its $1.45 billion public offering.

Metaplanet, a Tokyo-listed hotel group that owns $2.3 billion worth of Bitcoin, said on Wednesday that its business is expanding to the U.S.

The firm, which owns more than 20,000 Bitcoin, is establishing a subsidiary in Miami, Florida, to “manage and grow income-generation activities,” according to a press release.

Metaplanet said the wholly-owned firm, dubbed Metaplanet Income Corp., will initially have $15 million in capital. It will provide its parent company with a better opportunity to “pursue derivatives operations and related activities that produce revenue,” Metaplanet added.

The company’s shares changed hands around $4.06, falling nearly 4% on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance. The company’s stock price has plunged roughly 68% over the past three months from $12.90, although it has still increased 74% year-to-date.

Founded in 1999, Metaplanet has managed budget hotels across Japan, including “love hotels,” but Wednesday’s announcement makes no mention of hospitality. Rather, Metaplanet said the new subsidiary will be separate from its treasury operations.

In the second quarter, Metaplanet disclosed an operating profit of ¥817 million ($5.5 million) on ¥1.23 billion ($8.4 million) in total sales, according to a shareholder presentation.

The performance was largely driven by Metaplanet’s income-generation segment, which generated ¥1.13 billion ($7.7 million) by selling Bitcoin put options. The derivatives are only profitable for buyers when Bitcoin’s spot price falls below an option’s given strike price.

“This business has become our engine of growth, generating consistent revenue and net income,” Metaplanet President Simon Gerovich said on X on Wednesday.

Gerovich separately said on Wednesday that Metaplanet had officially closed on its $1.45 billion offering of 385 million shares.

More than 70 investors ponied up funds during an associated roadshow, “including some of the largest mutual fund complexes, sovereign wealth funds, and hedge funds,” he said.