Metaplanet Sold 10,000 Bitcoin and Bought Back 11,000 to Prove a Point

Metaplanet sold 10,000 BTC and bought back 11,000 during the third quarter, the Tokyo-listed treasury company disclosed, in a round trip staged to prove to credit rating agencies that it is both able and willing to turn its Bitcoin into cash.

The net effect was an increase of 1,000 BTC, taking the group’s holdings to 44,000 BTC as of September 30, per BitcoinTresauries.

“Rating agencies and credit investors ask one question of a Bitcoin company: can that Bitcoin be turned into cash to meet obligations, and will it be?” chief executive Simon Gerovich tweeted. “We answered by doing it.”

The reasoning in the filing is that while Bitcoin is liquid, what matters to rating agencies and bond investors is not only whether an asset can be sold but whether the issuer will actually sell it when obligations fall due. Rather than assert that, Metaplanet decided to demonstrate it with a real transaction.

So it sold an amount of Bitcoin exceeding the entire outstanding principal of its bonds, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities, and held the proceeds in cash. The debts were not repaid and remain outstanding on their original terms. Its liabilities, net of cash and dollar stablecoins, stood at ¥122.4 billion at quarter end, against sale proceeds of ¥124.7 billion.

Metaplanet points in the filing to “a previously published issuer credit rating of an overseas peer company” as the precedent, saying it showed that an issuer refusing or reluctant to sell its Bitcoin may find the asset given little weight in a credit assessment. It did not name the company. S&P assigned Strategy a B- issuer credit rating in October 2025, the first awarded to a Bitcoin treasury company, citing low dollar liquidity among its concerns and warning that a downturn could force sales at depressed prices.

Strategy has since moved further than that. It approved a Digital Credit Capital Framework in June permitting sales of up to $1.25 billion to fund its cash reserve, dividends and buybacks, and had sold 6,948 BTC for about $432.5 million by August. The firm’s Chair, Michael Saylor, has recast his position as never being “a net seller” of Bitcoin rather than never selling. It has since resumed Bitcoin purchases, surpassing its previous record holdings late last month.

The intent differs, with Strategy selling Bitcoin to meet obligations, while Metaplanet sold to prove it could, held the cash, then bought back more than it had sold. It came at a cost, with Metaplanet selling at an average of ¥12.47 million per BTC and buying back at ¥13.63 million, roughly 9% higher, so the net 1,000 BTC cost ¥25.2 billion against repurchases priced near ¥13.6 million each.

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Because the coins sold had been bought above the sale price, the disposal produced a capital loss for U.S. purposes, and the company estimates a deferred tax asset of about $97 million at subsidiaries of its U.S. holding company. The figure is preliminary and unaudited, and may not be recognized at all. Since Metaplanet carries Bitcoin at fair value, the loss does not create a new accounting loss.

The company says it now intends to pursue a credit rating, and that its Bitcoin Income Generation business has booked revenue for eight consecutive quarters. Gerovich said the holdings make Metaplanet the second-largest listed Bitcoin treasury company in the world, and that the strategy “was never simply to accumulate Bitcoin.”

He also announced a Net Interest Income Strategy, which he said is “designed to create recurring income streams and lower our effective cost of capital.” It sits alongside a pending Superplanet transaction and the build-out of Metaplanet Securities, in what he described as a unified push toward a Bitcoin-based financial institution.

The quarter also marks a further slowdown in accumulation. Metaplanet added 2,823 BTC in the second quarter, itself a cooling from earlier in the year; the third quarter’s net addition was roughly a third of that.