Metaplanet and Smarter Web Add Nearly $100M to Corporate Bitcoin Holdings

     

Japanese firm Metaplanet and UK-based The Smarter Web Company strengthened their corporate Bitcoin treasuries on Tuesday, climbing higher in the global rankings of publicly listed BTC holders.

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet announced on Tuesday that it had purchased 518 BTC for approximately $61.4 million, at an average price of $118,519 per coin. This acquisition brings the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 18,113 BTC, valued at around $2.15 billion at current market prices, with an average purchase price of $101,911 per BTC.

Led by CEO Simon Gerovich, Metaplanet now ranks as the sixth-largest public company Bitcoin holder worldwide, trailing only Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, MARA, XXI, Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, and Riot, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET. The purchase follows Metaplanet’s early-July announcement of plans to raise up to 555 billion Japanese yen ($3.7 billion) through a perpetual preferred share issuance to support its Bitcoin acquisition strategy.

Smarter Web Boosts Treasury With 295 BTC Purchase

London-listed web design and Bitcoin treasury management firm The Smarter Web Company also revealed on Tuesday that it had acquired 295 BTC for £26.3 million ($35.2 million) at an average price of $119,412 per coin.

The purchase was partially funded by a $10.2 million equity raise completed on Monday, along with a $21 million Bitcoin-denominated bond offering last week. This latest acquisition brings Smarter Web’s total Bitcoin holdings to 2,395 BTC, acquired at an average cost of $110,555 per coin for a total investment of $264.8 million. At current market prices, the stash is worth about $284.8 million, giving the company an unrealized gain of roughly $20 million.

With over 1,500 BTC purchased in July alone, Smarter Web has jumped from 36th to 23rd place in the global public company rankings, and is aiming to break into the top 20 in the coming weeks.

Analyst Warns: US Could Nationalize Corporate Bitcoin Holdings

As of July, publicly traded companies hold a combined 791,662 BTC – worth over $100 billion – representing nearly 4% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply. However, some analysts warn that such a concentration of BTC in corporate hands could pose a centralization risk.

Crypto analyst Willy Woo suggested that the United States could one day move to nationalize these holdings, drawing parallels to the 1971 end of the gold standard. Woo speculated that the government might centralize corporate Bitcoin reserves and effectively “rug” them, similar to how President Richard Nixon suspended gold convertibility more than five decades ago.