Metaplanet Borrows Yen, Kills Its Leverage, Asks the Market for BTC Moon Money Instead 🪙

Metaplanet will issue 52 billion yen ($329 million) in zero-coupon, euro-yen convertible bonds due in 2031, the Tokyo-listed Bitcoin treasury company said Tuesday. The company expects net proceeds of approximately 51.9 billion yen, with the bonds scheduled to be sold on October 29, 2026.

Roughly 23.6 billion yen ($149 million) of the net proceeds will repay existing Bitcoin-collateralized loans, while about 28.3 billion yen ($179 million) is earmarked for share buybacks under Metaplanet's newly announced repurchase program, which targets up to 60 billion yen ($380 million) in total buybacks. The structure is designed to reduce the firm's reliance on BTC-collateralized debt without selling any of its Bitcoin ($BTC) holdings.

Metaplanet held 44,000 $BTC as of the end of September, valued at $3.6 billion according to BitcoinTreasuries, making it the second-largest corporate Bitcoin treasury firm. Its borrowing-to-Bitcoin net asset value ratio stood at roughly 17.7% as of September 30, above the company's internal target of 10% or less, a level Metaplanet said it wants to normalize to absorb future Bitcoin price volatility.

The buyback program comes as Metaplanet's shares closed 1.5% lower in Tokyo on Tuesday, extending a 52.6% decline over the past 12 months, according to Yahoo Finance. Earlier this month, the company unveiled a revised capital allocation framework proposing to allocate up to 15% of total assets to strategic investments, Bitcoin accumulation and dividend payments.

In September, management faced shareholder criticism after expanding the Series 10 executive stock option pool nearly sevenfold, before announcing on Sept. 11 a 41% cut that reduces the number of potential underlying shares by 131.3 million, from 319.464 million to 188.19 million, returning the pool to its pre-September 2025 international offering level.