Metaplanet buys the dip with biggest-ever 620 Bitcoin buy

     

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet purchased $60 million worth of Bitcoin, the largest BTC buy it has made since it started acquiring the cryptocurrency in May.

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet made its largest-ever Bitcoin purchase, scooping up almost 620 Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency trades below $100,000.

On Dec. 23, Metaplanet announced that it had bought 619.7 Bitcoin worth just under $60 million, with Bitcoin trading at around $96,000.

It was the largest single purchase the firm has made since it started buying Bitcoin in May and nearly quadrupled the value of its previous record buy of 159.7 BTC on Oct. 28, according to Bitbo data.

Metaplanet has been dubbed “Asia’s MicroStrategy” after the American Bitcoin-buying firm and the recent purchase brings the Tokyo-based company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 1,762 BTC, worth about $168 million, with an average purchase price of around $75,600 per BTC.

The latest buy makes its Bitcoin stack the 12th-largest among public companies, behind medical tech maker Semler Scientific.

Metaplanet reported that from Oct. 1 to Dec. 23, its BTC Yield was 310%, considerably higher than the 41.7% yield from July to September.

Metaplanet uses BTC Yield to “assess the performance of its Bitcoin acquisition strategy, which is intended to be accretive to shareholders,” it stated.

On Dec. 18, the Japanese investment firm projected that it would turn its first operating profit since 2017, adding that it wanted to go beyond just buying Bitcoin as part of its treasury strategy.

In an investor disclosure, the firm said it would establish “Bitcoin accumulation and management” as a formal business line, including loans, equity, convertible bonds and other financial instruments to purchase and hold BTC.

In late November, Metaplanet said it planned to raise over $62 million (9.5 billion Japanese yen) through a stock acquisition program to purchase more Bitcoin for its treasury.

Metaplanet’s stock price jumped 5% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange following its announcement but remains down almost 13% over the past week, according to Google Finance.

Still, shares in the firm have surged more than 2,100% this year amid its adoption of Bitcoin, hitting an all-time high of 4,080 Japanese yen ($26) on Dec. 17.