Asia’s Bitcoin Giant Metaplanet Drops $25 Million To Expand BTC Strategy With New Venture Arm ⋆ ZyCrypto

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Metaplanet, Asia’s biggest publicly listed Bitcoin holder, isn’t just stacking BTC — it’s now supporting Bitcoin ecosystem development in Japan.

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet announced on Thursday that its board has greenlit the launch of two wholly-owned subsidiaries: Metaplanet Ventures K.K. and Metaplanet Asset Management. Metaplanet Ventures signals the firm’s bold commitment to Japan’s domestic Bitcoin ecosystem, planning to deploy ¥4B ($26 million) into companies building Bitcoin financial infrastructure over the next few years — covering lending, payments, custody, derivatives, and compliance tech.

The ¥4B investment, funded by cash flows from Metaplanet’s existing Bitcoin income business, comes with an incubator for Japanese founders and a grants program to support early-stage founders, developers, educators, and researchers in Japan’s BTC ecosystem, per the company’s filing.

Metaplanet says startups in stablecoins, options and derivatives trading, custody, and tokenization could also get backing — signaling support for crypto infrastructure beyond just Bitcoin.

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich and board director Shinpei Okuno will lead as representatives of Metaplanet Ventures.

“Japan has built the best regulatory framework in the world for digital assets,” CEO Gerovich said in a post on X.  “Now it needs the companies, the builders, and the infrastructure to match. We want to help make that happen.”

Metaplanet Ventures is kicking off with a ¥400M (~$2.7M) investment in JPYC Inc., a yen-backed stablecoin issuer, slated for April via a parent company loan.

Meanwhile, Metaplanet Asset Management is landing in Miami to shake up the market—its new platform will fuse Bitcoin and digital credit, connecting Asian and Western capital markets like never before.

Bitcoin Accumulation Remains Metaplanet’s Main Game

Even as it dives into crypto startup investments, Metaplanet says stacking Bitcoin for the long haul remains its ‘core focus.’”

With 35,102 BTC (valued at $2.45 billion) on its books, Metaplanet is the world’s fourth-biggest corporate Bitcoin holder. The company has poured nearly $3.8B into Bitcoin at an average of $107K per coin, leaving it with an unrealized loss of about $1.4B — roughly 37% underwater on its holdings.

Still, the company plans to snag 210,000 BTC, 1% of the network’s 21 million supply, by 2027.

This comes as Japan looks to recognize Bitcoin as a regulated financial asset by January 2028.