Summary MetaPlanet (MTPLF) offers a rare, levered Bitcoin balance sheet trading near liquidation value, with 30,800 BTC and a 1.0x mNAV. MTPLF will exploit Japan's low-rate environment by issuing 4.9% yen-denominated preferred equity, creating a structural funding edge over U.S. peers like MSTR. The company generates significant income from Bitcoin options, supports buybacks below book value, and maintains disciplined capital allocation tied to mNAV. Risks include Bitcoin price volatility, derivatives exposure, execution of preferreds, and potential changes in Japan's rate regime. MetaPlanet ( OTC:MTPLF ) (3350.T) is one of the few ways to buy a reliable large, levered Bitcoin balance sheet at roughly its current liquidation value. As of late 2025, the company holds about 30,800 BTC, putting it among the largest public Bitcoin treasuries worldwide. Its analytics page shows roughly $2.8 billion of Bitcoin NAV against about $254 million of debt, with the capital stack trading 1x mNAV. What makes the setup more interesting is that Japan has had decades of financial repression, with policy rates still around 0.5% and 10-year JGBs recently in the high-1% range even after a sharp backup in global yields. Metaplanet is finally starting to exploit that backdrop by issuing long-duration preferred equity at just 4.9% in yen, then using the proceeds to expand a Bitcoin treasury that management expects to compound at a much higher rate. In other words, you have a levered Bitcoin vehicle trading around book value, with a structurally cheap funding base in one of the lowest-yielding major markets. Metaplanet also has an emerging options-based income engine and a sizable authorized buyback program in case shares trade further below 1x mNAV. Embedded Bitcoin Leverage MetaPlanet’s balance sheet is now essentially a Bitcoin holding company. The company’s disclosures show 30,823 BTC held as of the end of September 2025, acquired for $107,911 per BTC. The BTC position dominates total assets. On the liability side, MetaPlanet has layered in a mix of BTC-backed loans and, in the very near future, preferred equity. The analytics dashboard reports about $254 million of debt outstanding against roughly $2.8 billion of Bitcoin NAV, implying asset-level leverage of a bit under 1.1x on the BTC stack. One important valuation lens is mNAV. MetaPlanet defines this as enterprise value divided by the market value of its Bitcoin holdings. On its investor analytics page, that number has recently sat near 1.0x. At roughly that level, the market is valuing the entire capital stack as if the company were liquidated at today’s BTC price, debt repaid, and nothing else mattered. You are not paying for the income-generating options business, the buyback optionality, or any future growth in BTC per share. More importantly, you are not paying a premium for the embedded 1.1x leverage. If Bitcoin appreciates, that modest leverage should allow MetaPlanet’s common equity to compound faster than spot BTC. If Bitcoin stagnates or falls, the same leverage works in reverse, but your entry point is anchored to something very close to balance sheet value. For equity holders, the embedded leverage structure creates some convexity. If Bitcoin rises 50–100% from here over a multi-year window and the company keeps its leverage in roughly the same range, equity value should grow substantially faster than spot BTC because each BTC on the balance sheet is funded partly with fixed-cost liabilities. If Bitcoin falls sharply, residual equity shrinks faster than BTC, but at least the starting point is a balance-sheet multiple near 1.0x mNAV rather than the well over 2.0x premiums that similar models (Metaplanet included) have commanded in the recent past. The reason embedded leverage deserves a premium is that you generally cannot get this leverage anywhere else. As a natural person, it is very hard to get the terms on the debt that Metaplanet is able to secure. Corporations have access to more intelligent forms of leverage, including long dated debt, debt with lower interest rates, debt that is not callable, and—as we will see in the next section—preferred equity instruments which potentially never need to be repaid, thus eliminating the risks of refinancings and repayment. I think of the balance sheet picture as a base case consisting of a large, transparent BTC pool, modest structural leverage, and a market valuation that roughly equals the underlying Bitcoin NAV. The rest of the thesis is about why this particular structure in Japan deserves more attention. Japan’s Financial Repression and the MARS / MERCURY Funding Edge Japan remains a structurally low-rate market despite recent volatility. The Bank of Japan’s short term policy rate is around 0.5%, and even after a fiscal-driven selloff, 10yr JGB yields are roughly 1.7–1.8%, their highest since the mid-2000s but still low by global standards. This is classic financial repression. In the U.S., the 10yr yields 4%. Japan Yields (Investing.com) MetaPlanet’s new preferred structure is built directly on top of that environment. The company has introduced two layers of preferred equity: MARS and MERCURY . MARS, short for Metaplanet Adjustable Rate Security, is described as a senior, non-dilutive Class A preferred. It is designed to pay monthly dividends that adjust based on where the security trades relative to its reference value: if MARS trades below the target, the dividend rate can step up; if it trades above, it can step down. In effect, MARS is at the top of the equity stack, providing flexible, perpetual capital with no scheduled repayment, no common stock conversion or dilution, and potential for the cost of capital to trend lower over time if the variable rate adjusts downward in the future. We don't know when the company will issue MARS at this moment. MERCURY sits beneath MARS but ahead of the common. The program is sized at roughly ¥21–23 billion (around $150 million), via 23.6 million preferred shares priced near ¥900, each carrying a ¥1,000 liquidation preference. MERCURY pays a 4.9% fixed annual dividend on that reference amount, with quarterly payments and a long-dated right to convert into common stock at ¥1,000 per share, well above where the common has traded recently. Based on the filings , MERCURY shares should start trading on or before December 29, 2025 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Many might notice that MARS is a lot like Strategy’s ( MSTR ) STRC. Both are variable rate preferred equity with monthly dividends. MERCURY is a lot like Strategy’s STRK. Both are convertible preferred equity with a fixed dividend. The main difference is that MARS and MERCURY are in Japan while STRC and STRK are in the U.S. That 4.9% dividend is MetaPlanet’s funding edge. Strategy ( MSTR ) and its suite of dollar and euro preferreds pay around 10% on their stated amount, with effective yields often higher since some securities trade below par. MetaPlanet intends to release a preferred funding cost in the mid-single digits, because it is in a currency where risk-free long term bonds still yield well under 2%. If you believe Bitcoin’s long-run CAGR will comfortably exceed 4.9% in yen terms, then each yen raised through MERCURY to buy additional BTC creates a structural spread in MetaPlanet’s favor. MARS adds an even more flexible, senior layer with zero dilution. Access to long-duration credit at about half the cost of similar instruments in the U.S., and deploying it into the same hard asset is the Japanese edge. Couple that with a starting valuation around 1.0x mNAV while Strategy has a 1.13x mNAV. Derivatives Income and Allocation Discipline There’s more. Unlike Strategy, MetaPlanet is not simply borrowing cheaply and sitting on Bitcoin. It has built an income engine on top of its treasury that monetizes BTC volatility. In its filings and OTC disclosures, the company notes that derivative transactions—specifically Bitcoin put options written against its holdings—constitute the majority of revenue in its Bitcoin Treasury segment. By Q3 2025 , this “Bitcoin Income Generation” business had become the primary revenue driver, accounting for over 95% of total income and generating about ¥2.3 billion ($14.7 million) in quarterly revenue, up over 100% from Q2. Q3 Revenues (Metaplanet Earnings) MetaPlanet has been clear that this options book is run in a segregated bucket, funded separately from the long-term unencumbered BTC holdings, MetaPlanet is basically harvesting variance risk premia to generate cash income. As that segment scales, it can help service MERCURY’s 4.9% dividend and any future MARS payouts without forcing sales of core BTC or issuing common equity the way Strategy does. Just to put it into perspective: Metaplanet has $150 million of issuance capacity for MERCURY and $15.6 million in quarterly revenue from derivatives, and the yield on MERCURY is 4.9%. If they keep this up, the derivatives revenue from about half a quarter can pay for a year’s worth of MERCURY dividends. There is obviously risk to a derivatives income strategy (more on that below). Short volatility can be extremely destructive if mismanaged. Because we don’t have much clarity into how exactly they run their strategy, it is difficult to accurately assess this risk. On capital allocation, MetaPlanet has also adopted a simple policy around mNAV. The October 28, 2025 capital allocation announcement formalized that the company will avoid issuing common equity when mNAV is below 1.0x and will consider repurchasing shares when they trade at a discount to Bitcoin NAV. To operationalize that, the board authorized a share repurchase program for up to 150 million shares, ~13.1% of the float, with a cap of ¥75 billion (about $500 million), funded by a BTC-backed credit facility of the same size. At or below 1.0x mNAV, MetaPlanet can tap cheap yen preferreds, BTC-backed credit linked and derivatives cash flow to buy more Bitcoin or to repurchase common stock, pushing BTC per share and overall leverage ratio higher. Above 1.0x, it has room to consider issuing common equity if market conditions are attractive. mNAV becomes an internal compass for how the company expands or shrinks its equity base. As a common stock investor interested in acquiring more BTC over time, you would want leverage and buybacks turned up when the stock is at or below book, and only accretive issuance reserved for times when the market is paying a premium. Metaplanet Risks First, everything is downstream of Bitcoin. A deep, prolonged BTC drawdown would increase MetaPlanet’s leverage relative to its asset base, weaken coverage on debt and preferreds, and likely push mNAV well below 1.0x. This magnifies the potential downside of Metaplanet compared to that of BTC. Second, the Bitcoin Income Generation segment is, at its core, a volatility-selling business. Writing puts and other options against BTC can produce attractive recurring income in normal markets, but it also carries tail risk. A sudden, extreme move in Bitcoin or a mis-specified risk framework could turn that segment from profit center to loss generator, reducing the very cash flow currently helping to support the capital structure. The segregation of long-term BTC holdings helps, but it does not eliminate the risk that a derivatives shock bleeds into equity sentiment and funding options. A corollary to this second point is that Metaplanet’s true leverage is probably higher than it is making out to be. With Bitcoin treasury companies that are not short volatility, their leverage is very clearly the NAV of BTC holdings compared to their outstanding credit instruments (debt and preferred equity). With Metaplanet, one must also consider that their true leverage includes the positive delta positions that they hold via their derivatives book. If BTC falls significantly, the delta of short puts will expand significantly. So while the income generation segment is nice, it adds some unavoidable opacity to the capital structure. Third, there is execution and capital markets risk around the preferreds and buyback program. MERCURY still needs to be fully placed and managed over time. MARS must be calibrated so that its adjustable dividend does not destabilize its own trading. The ¥75 billion buyback authorization and $500 million credit line are powerful tools, but they must be used the right way at the right times. Finally, Japan’s financial repression is an opportunity today but it may not be permanent. The recent move in JGB yields toward multi-decade highs shows that the domestic rate regime is beginning to shift, driven by fiscal concerns and changing BoJ policy. If 10-year JGBs settle well above 2% or the policy rate rises meaningfully, future preferred issuance may be more expensive, and MetaPlanet’s funding advantage over U.S. peers could narrow. Conclusion I believe MetaPlanet should be viewed as a high-beta, structurally levered Bitcoin vehicle that happens, for the moment, to trade around book value and to enjoy a cheaper funding base than its best-known competitor, MSTR. You are effectively buying a modestly levered BTC balance sheet at roughly 1.0x mNAV, backed by a growing volatility income franchise, financed in a repressed yen market through 4.9% perpetual preferreds and an adjustable senior layer, with a sizable buyback authorization defined by book value. For investors with strong conviction in Bitcoin’s long-term trajectory and a multi-year investment horizon, that combination is attractive and warrants a Buy rating.
