Metaplanet Opens a U.S. Arm to Buy More Bitcoin

TOKYO — Metaplanet, the Japanese firm that has become Asia’s most aggressive corporate bitcoin buyer, is opening a beachhead in the United States—not for the coins, but for the money to buy them.

A $134.6 million deal announced this week creates a U.S. treasury vehicle named Superplanet, dropping Metaplanet into the market Michael Saylor’s Strategy built. Under the terms, Metaplanet can add up to $210 million through preferred stock within 24 months of closing. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending a shareholder vote and regulators in both countries.

Why cross the Pacific

The reason is plumbing. Japan lacks a market for perpetual preferred stock—permanent capital that a company can raise once and never has to repay, backed by its bitcoin. In the United States, that instrument is deep and proven: Strategy’s STRC preferred raised $2.5 billion at its debut in July 2025.

For a treasury company, the type of money matters as much as the amount. Selling common shares to buy bitcoin dilutes existing holders every time; convertible debt has to be repaid or refinanced. Perpetual preferred stock sits in between—a permanent claim that pays a coupon but never comes due—which is why the firms racing to stack coins covet it.

The contest among bitcoin treasuries is no longer who wants coins most. It is who can reach the cheapest, most patient capital—and that road runs through New York.

The context

Metaplanet holds roughly 43,000 BTC, placing it among the largest corporate holders behind Strategy. Where Saylor favors large lump-sum purchases funded through convertible debt, Metaplanet has leaned on programmatic accumulation paired with an active options strategy. Superplanet extends that playbook onto American funding rails.

The move also underscores how concentrated the treasury model has become around a single financing template pioneered in the U.S. Nearly 200 public companies now hold bitcoin on their balance sheets; the ones scaling fastest are those that can tap permanent capital. A Tokyo-listed company setting up a U.S. arm purely to reach that tool is a measure of how central it has become.

The risk is unchanged and familiar. Preferred stock is permanent for the issuer but a fixed obligation to service; a long bitcoin drawdown turns a patient coupon into a strain. For now, Metaplanet is betting that access to cheaper capital compounds faster than the cost of carrying it.

Why it matters: the bitcoin-treasury race has become a competition over financial plumbing, and the deepest plumbing is American—so even Tokyo’s champion is building a door into it.

The $134.6 million deal, the Superplanet vehicle, the $210 million preferred-stock authorization, the Q4 2026 target close and the shareholder/regulatory conditions are per Yahoo Finance reporting (September 2026); the Strategy STRC comparison ($2.5 billion, July 2025) and Metaplanet’s ~43,000 BTC are per the same report and BitcoinTreasuries.net. The deal remains subject to approvals and could change. Informational only — not financial advice.