This Public Japanese Firm Has Added Bitcoin as Its Reserve Asset

Bitcoin has continued to gain mainstream adoption, with major corporations and top industry dogs incorporating the digital asset into their long-term financial strategies.

Metaplanet, a Japanese investment and consulting company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is the most recent firm to make such a remarkable move.

Metaplanet Makes Bitcoin Reserve Asset

According to an official release, Metaplanet has adopted Bitcoin in its treasury management strategy, making the cryptocurrency its reserve asset. The company will prioritize a Bitcoin-first, Bitcoin-only approach, utilizing long-dated Japanese yen (JPY) liabilities and periodic share issuances as financial options to continually purchase more BTC.

“Metaplanet views bitcoin as fundamentally superior to any and all other forms of political currency, traditional stores of value and investment, and all other crypto-assets/securities. Bitcoin is an absolutely scarce digital synthetic monetary commodity, with no central issue,” the company said.

Metaplanet’s announcement comes roughly a month after the firm invested one billion JPY ($6.5 million) into BTC, marking its transition to the leading crypto asset.

The investment and consulting firm said the move is a response to the economic pressures on Japan, the weak yen, long periods of negative interest rates, and high government debt levels. Metaplanet’s new approach will increase on a BTC per share basis, enhancing shareholder value in the long term.

Struggles of the Japanese Yen

Japan’s challenging economic landscape saw the yen fall to 34-year lows a few weeks ago, amounting to a 50% depreciation against the USD in the past decade. Metaplanet explained that the country’s unsustainable financial trajectory suggests an increasing rate of monetary devaluation in the future.

Additionally, Metaplanet revealed that Japan’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is 261%, the highest in the developed world. The Bank of Japan implemented a negative interest rate policy in 2016 and artificially suppressed borrowing costs by printing the yen to purchase government bonds.

“This weakness is evident to all market participants and is only temporarily masked by sporadic interventions from the BoJ in both the government bond and foreign exchange markets,” the company added.

Metaplanet’s Bitcoin strategy would fortify its balance sheet against further devaluation of the yen and position the company as a BTC-focused investment vehicle.