Metaplanet sold 10,000 bitcoin and bought 11,000 to prove liquidity

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet sold 10,000 bitcoin, then bought back 11,000 in the third quarter, a round trip it says was meant to prove it can raise cash fast. The company disclosed the move on October 5, 2026.

Details came in a batch of filings posted to the company's investor relations page. One carried the title "Notice of Additional Purchase of Bitcoin (Including Sale and Reacquisition of Bitcoin to Demonstrate Liquidity)." The Block and CoinDesk reported the same figures.

The trade, in numbers

Metaplanet sold the 10,000 coins for ¥124.7 billion, about $790 million, at an average near $78,925 each. It then spent ¥149.9 billion, about $950 million, to buy 11,000 back, an average near $86,246. The rebuy cost more. Prices had risen while the cash sat in the bank.

The net result was 1,000 extra coins and a total of 44,000 BTC, worth about $3.8 billion as of September 30, 2026, by Metaplanet's own count. That leaves it second only to Michael Saylor's Strategy among listed corporate holders of bitcoin.

Across the whole stack, Metaplanet put its average cost near $98,454 a coin, a total of roughly $4.33 billion. The shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Both trades fell inside the July-to-September window, the company said, and surfaced together only when the quarter closed. By the end of it the net change looked small, just 1,000 coins. The churn beneath it did not.

Why sell just to buy back

Here is the logic. Metaplanet wanted to show lenders that its bitcoin can become cash on demand. The 10,000-coin sale brought in ¥124.7 billion, a little above the roughly ¥122.4 billion of interest-bearing debt on the firm's books. It held the proceeds in cash, left the debt in place, then bought the coins back. The message to a would-be rating agency was that the balance sheet can cover itself without a fire sale.

"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? We answered by doing it," said Simon Gerovich, Metaplanet's chief executive.

Metaplanet now plans to seek a credit rating and to widen its financing to corporate bonds and preferred shares, the filings said. Gerovich tied the quarter to a larger aim. "Our objective has been to build the leading Bitcoin financial company in Asia," he said.

A net interest plan and a borrowing cap

Alongside the trade, Metaplanet set out what it calls a net interest income strategy. It will put 10 to 15 percent of its assets into income-generating holdings, mostly preferred securities issued by other bitcoin treasury firms, and use the net interest to fund more bitcoin buying and dividends. Bitcoin stays the core reserve, aimed at 85 to 90 percent of assets. The revised policy also capped bitcoin-backed borrowing at about 10 percent of the net asset value of its coins, with the stated goal of lifting its per-share bitcoin count, a figure it labels BTC Yield.

A costly point, and an old denial

The demonstration was not free. The roughly 9 percent premium on the rebuy, about ¥25.2 billion, is money the company spent to make a point rather than to add coins. A deliberate loss, in a sense. Metaplanet also sold the bitcoin below its average cost, which created a capital loss for United States tax purposes. It put the resulting deferred tax asset at about $97 million. That figure is preliminary and has not been confirmed by its auditor.

This move stands apart from the usual treasury playbook. Most public companies that hold bitcoin accumulate and sit tight, selling only when forced. Metaplanet sold on purpose, then paid up to rebuild the position, treating a stretch of the quarter as a credit audition.

That stance sits oddly against the company's own words from the summer. In August, after an on-chain move of 5,014 coins set off talk of a sell-off, Gerovich said it was a routine custody transfer and that no bitcoin had been sold, with holdings steady at 43,000 BTC. The Q3 filing is the first time Metaplanet has detailed a deliberate sale and repurchase on this scale. The two events may be unrelated. Metaplanet has not tied them together.

What to watch

Watch for a rating. Metaplanet has said it wants one, and the sell-and-rebuy pointed straight at the agencies that assign them. The income plan bears watching too. Revenue from the firm's existing bitcoin income business fell to about $5.4 million in the third quarter, down 51 percent from the prior three months and 65 percent from a year earlier. Over nine months that business took in about $35.2 million. The new strategy has ground to make up. For where the coin is trading now, see our coverage of bitcoin's latest price moves.