In just over one year, a struggling hotel operator battered by the Covid pandemic turned itself into one of the world’s most aggressive Bitcoin buyers — and investors are lapping it up.
Metaplanet is now the tenth largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world, and the biggest of its ilk in Asia. Its market capitalisation has gone to $5.5 billion from $13 million in one year.
And the firm is hungry for more. On Friday, CEO Simon Gerovich announced its flashy “210 Million Plan” that entails raising $5.4 billion to buy an extra 210,000 Bitcoin by 2027.
That would be 1% of the entire network’s supply.
All of this because Gerovich has been hellbent on turning his company into the Japanese version of Strategy, the firm formerly known as MicroStrategy.
Michael Saylor, Strategy’s executive chairman, has managed to accumulate over 580,000 Bitcoin worth about $60 billion. His firm’s soaring stock price — it’s up over tenfold since it bought Bitcoin back in 2020 — has spurred myriad copycats.
One of them is Metaplanet.
But how did a former budget hotel operator manage to raise billions and climb to the highest echelons of the Bitcoin industry?
And is its froth sustainable?
The hospitality business
The year is 2010 and the city is Tokyo.
Gerovich, a former Goldman Sachs derivatives trader, founded Metaplanet — then known as Red Planet Japan — with a pretty straightforward business model: hotels. And for years, it worked.
At its peak, Metaplanet employed 127 workers, and owned dozens of properties.
Then, in 2020, Covid-19 hit, decimating the travel industry. With over 65,000 shareholders and a languishing stock price, Metaplanet had to pivot — fast.
“We were actually sort of lucky in the sense that the company was struggling during COVID, and I think our board and shareholders were desperate for us to find something new,” said Gerovich during an episode of the Coin Stories podcast.
Enter cryptocurrencies.
Inspired by Saylor
The company first landed in crypto consulting. It provided blockchain infrastructure, support for NFTs, and helped to integrate Bitcoin into corporations.
But when Gerovich caught wind of Strategy’s striking stock appreciation, he was inspired to shadow Saylor’s movements.
In April 2024, the company began selling off most of its hotel assets, keeping hold of one property in Tokyo, which is now being built out to become “The Bitcoin Hotel.”
Using those funds, the company began buying Bitcoin at an average cost-basis of about $90,000. Metaplanet now owns 8,888 Bitcoin worth about $829 million.
Investors loved the move. The stock skyrocketed. Shares are up 1,700% in the past year. Its market capitalization soared to over $1.4 billion in 2024 as it became Japan’s most traded stock.
But the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
According to 10x Research, Metaplanet’s stock price implies a Bitcoin value of around $596,154 — more than five times the current market price.
That’s raised eyebrows, and is attracting short sellers who see a familiar pattern: companies with little revenue growth hitching their fate to volatile cryptocurrencies and riding in the co-pilot’s seat of retail euphoria.
Indeed, risks exist that could wallop the entire Bitcoin market.
For all the excitement, a corporate strategy based solely on buying Bitcoin isn’t a business model — it’s a bet.
Unlike Strategy, which boasts a $500 million software intelligence business, Metaplanet has no cash flow. Strategy’s revenue has also been dwindling amid its turn toward Bitcoin.
In fact, Metaplanet’s pivot from hotels means the vast majority of its operational income comes from its Bitcoin-related activities, leaving the company reliant mostly on rising prices and continued enthusiasm from investors.
Regardless, Gerovich isn’t hitting the brakes.
On Friday, he announced plans to raise $5.4 billion to purchase an additional 100,000 Bitcoin by 2026 — and then some. It’s an ambitious leap for a firm whose underlying operations, at present, remain thin.
Whether Metaplanet becomes Asia’s MicroStrategy — or just another Bitcoin moonshot that burns up on reentry — now depends almost entirely on the price of Bitcoin.
