Tokyo-listed Metaplanet accelerated its Bitcoin treasury strategy in the first quarter of 2026 by acquiring 5,075 BTC, a purchase worth roughly $398 million. The company said on April 2 that the buying program had been completed by March 31, with an average purchase price ranging from about $78,000 to $79,898 per Bitcoin. After this latest round of accumulation, Metaplanet’s total holdings climbed to 40,177 BTC, placing it firmly among the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders.
The most notable outcome of that purchase is that Metaplanet moved ahead of MARA Holdings. MARA currently holds around 38,689 BTC after recently reducing its position as part of debt-management efforts. Based on data from bitcointreasuries.net, Metaplanet now ranks as the third-largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder, behind only Strategy, which controls more than 762,000 BTC, and Twenty One Capital, which holds 43,514 BTC.
MARA’s drop in the rankings was driven by a substantial disposal in March 2026. Between March 4 and March 25, the miner sold 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion. The company described the sales as part of a broader balance-sheet restructuring program. MARA, which has been expanding into digital energy and AI infrastructure, said the proceeds would be used to repurchase its 0.00% convertible senior notes due in 2030 and 2031.
Metaplanet is still holding Bitcoin at a paper loss
Even with its rapid accumulation, Metaplanet is not currently sitting on unrealized gains. On the day of the announcement, Bitcoin traded near $66,400. At that market price, the firm’s 40,177 BTC stash was worth about $2.67 billion. However, its average cost basis was close to $97,593 per BTC. That difference implies an unrealized loss of roughly 32%, showing that the company’s aggressive treasury buildout has so far come at prices well above the market level on the disclosure date.
Still, Metaplanet has given no sign that it plans to slow down. Chief executive Simon Gerovich has consistently presented Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset that fits Japan’s macroeconomic environment, especially persistent inflation concerns and yen depreciation. Since the company shifted to a Bitcoin-centered treasury model in April 2024, it has continued to buy at a steady pace rather than treating Bitcoin as a short-term tactical trade.
To support those purchases, the company uses several funding channels: equity issuance, broader capital markets activity, and a growing Bitcoin income operation. During the first quarter of 2026, Metaplanet generated around 2.97 billion yen in revenue from options strategies tied to its Bitcoin holdings. That income helps offset acquisition costs and lowers the firm’s effective purchase price per BTC, making its treasury strategy more than a simple “issue shares and buy coins” approach.
How Metaplanet measures Bitcoin growth per diluted share
Beyond total holdings, Metaplanet also emphasizes a shareholder-focused performance metric called BTC Yield. This measure tracks the growth in Bitcoin per diluted share, offering a way to evaluate whether each share still represents a growing amount of BTC after capital raises and dilution. For public companies pursuing a Bitcoin treasury strategy, that framework can be more informative than looking only at the absolute number of coins held on the balance sheet.
For Q1 2026, Metaplanet reported a BTC Yield of 2.8%. That was dramatically lower than the 95.6% reported in the same period a year earlier. The sharp drop does not mean the company stopped acquiring Bitcoin. Instead, it reflects the heavier impact of share dilution. In other words, while Metaplanet added more BTC, the growth in Bitcoin exposure on a per-diluted-share basis was far more modest because the share count expanded as the company raised capital.
Metaplanet tapped the market twice during the quarter. In January, it raised about 12.24 billion yen through a placement. In March, it completed another financing round worth roughly 40.8 billion yen through share issuance and warrants sold to institutional investors. In both cases, the proceeds were directed toward additional Bitcoin purchases, reinforcing that the company’s accumulation is part of a deliberate treasury model rather than occasional opportunistic buying.
From fewer than 100 BTC to 40,177 BTC
The pace of Metaplanet’s expansion becomes clearer when viewed as a timeline. The company began accumulating Bitcoin in April 2024 with less than 100 BTC. By the end of 2024, its holdings had grown to 1,761 BTC. It then accelerated sharply, reaching more than 30,000 BTC by September 2025. After adding another 5,075 BTC in the first quarter of 2026, total holdings rose again to 40,177 BTC, extending a pattern of rapid treasury scaling.
This trajectory shows that Metaplanet is not treating Bitcoin as a minor balance-sheet diversifier. Instead, it has placed BTC at the center of its treasury identity. Compared with listed firms that make relatively small or symbolic allocations, Metaplanet is pursuing a much more aggressive model built on repeated capital raises, continuous accumulation, and supplemental yield generation through options and related strategies.
The company has also set an ambitious long-term goal: to hold 210,000 BTC by the end of 2027. Given Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins, that target would amount to roughly 1% of the total supply. Reaching that level would require sustained access to capital markets and continued execution of the firm’s income strategies. In practical terms, the target depends not only on Bitcoin market conditions but also on whether investors continue to support a treasury model centered on issuing capital to buy more BTC.
Market reaction on the day was relatively muted. Metaplanet shares closed at 302 yen, or about $1.89, on April 2, down around 2% for the session. That decline was broadly in line with wider market moves rather than a sharply negative company-specific response. For investors, the central question remains whether Metaplanet can maintain a workable balance between dilution, paper losses, and continued Bitcoin accumulation as it pushes toward its 2027 target.