Metaplanet Issues Dividend-Paying Preferred Shares to Offer Institutional Bitcoin Exposure
Metaplanet, Japan’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with 30,823 BTC (≈$2.7–2.75bn), won shareholder approval for five capital-restructuring proposals that enable issuing dividend-paying preferred shares targeted at institutional investors. The company doubled authorized shares for two preferred classes (Class A and Class B to 555 million each) and reclassified capital reserves to capital surplus to fund preferred dividends and potential buybacks while continuing BTC purchases without diluting common equity. Class A will pay monthly floating dividends under a Metaplanet Adjustable Rate Security (MARS) that raises pay when the share price falls below par to help stabilise value. Class B will pay quarterly fixed dividends with a stated yield of 4.9%, includes a 10-year issuer call at 130% of face value, and grants a put right to investors if no IPO occurs within one year. Approval also allows issuance of Class B shares to overseas institutional investors, creating an income-style, indirect route to Bitcoin exposure via preferred equity rather than spot BTC or common stock. The Tokyo-listed stock jumped about 4.16% after the vote and the company has begun U.S. ADR trading via Deutsche Bank. For traders: this creates a novel institutional instrument tied to a large corporate BTC reserve, may broaden institutional demand for corporate-linked Bitcoin exposure, and signals Metaplanet’s continued capacity to buy BTC while offering predictable yield; the impact on BTC price is likely indirect but could be modestly supportive of institutional demand.
Neutral
The announcement is likely neutral for BTC price in the short term and mildly bullish in the medium term. Short-term: the news is company-specific and primarily affects equity and institutional-access instruments rather than spot BTC supply; the immediate market reaction was a modest uptick in Metaplanet’s stock, not a direct BTC price move. Medium-term: by enabling institutions to obtain indirect, income-bearing exposure to a large corporate BTC reserve, the move could broaden institutional demand for Bitcoin-linked products and reduce reliance on direct custody, which may support incremental demand. The impact is limited because preferred shares provide exposure via corporate balance-sheet mechanics rather than increasing direct BTC purchases; any BTC-supportive effect depends on whether Metaplanet actually continues net buying and on uptake by institutional investors. Overall, price direction for BTC is likely modest and gradual rather than immediately bullish.