Michael Saylor's bitcoin strategy extends to the land of the rising sun

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By TP

The investment strategy and adoption of bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset carried out by businessman Michael Saylor, was officially extended to Japan, where a company followed in the footsteps of MicroStrategy to protect itself from the economic crisis. In the land of the rising sun, the Metaplanet corporation, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, reported that they adopted BTC “as a strategic treasury reserve asset.” This, by recognizing “the challenges and opportunities of the current global financial landscape.” According to that investment firm, this is a “strategic change in treasury management” and is a “direct response” to sustained economic pressures in Japan. In more detail, the high levels of public doubt, the long periods of negative interest rates and the weakness of the Japanese yen against other currencies. Metaplanet argues that Japan's economic environment “is overshadowed” by the ratio of public debt to GDP “highest in the developed world”, which stands at 261%. “This condition has required a prolonged phase of monetary flexibility, which includes the devaluation of the national currency to manage existing and future debt loads,” they point out from Metaplanet. In this situation, Metaplanet uses a strategy designed “to be cumulative”, which is driven by the need to mitigate yen risks and by the opportunity “to capitalize on the ongoing process of bitcoin monetization as it steadily gains a foothold in the world’s balance sheets.” Such a strategy has already begun. According to tracking site BitcoinTreasuries.net, Metaplanet currently accumulates 117.7 BTC in their reserves. That is an approximate of USD 7.5 million.

Metaplanet has already started its BTC accumulation strategy. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.net.

“Bitcoin only”

In its statement, Metaplanet clarifies that its strategy “unequivocally prioritizes the 'bitcoin first and bitcoin only' approach.” This, highlighting that BTC “offers a non-sovereign store of value that has appreciated, and may continue to appreciate, against traditional fiat currencies.” Likewise, they clarify that, although there are already different forms of exposure to BTC, such as exchange-traded funds (BTC), Metaplanet implements a more direct exposure strategy. That is to say, through long-term holding.

The company highlights that the accumulation of bitcoin is a central element of its strategy. This, considering that BTC “is fundamentally superior to any other form of political currency, traditional stores of value and investment and all other cryptoassets/securities.”

“Bitcoin is an absolutely scarce digital synthetic monetary product, with no central issuer. Bitcoin's monetary policy is rigidly set in stone until 2140, setting it apart from both monetary metals and competing cryptocurrency projects operated at the whims of centralized developer teams. There will only be 21,000,000 bitcoin.” Metaplanet, Japanese investment firm.

Following in Saylor's footsteps

The long-term bitcoin accumulation strategy that the Japanese company will employ Metaplanet is similar to the one applied by MicroStrategy, the American company led by bitcoiner Michael Saylor, and which is currently one of the great bitcoin whales in the ecosystem. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, MicroStrategy has so far accumulated 214,000 BTC, valued at about USD 13.5 billion. It means that that company holds more bitcoin than several major BTC ETFs that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The thousands of BTC that are in MicroStrategy's custody are the result of continuous purchases for almost three years. Since September 2020, the company joined the bitcoin ecosystem by purchasing its first holdings. MicroStrategy's vision regarding its investment in BTC is the same as that of Metaplanet. That is, in the long term.

MicroStrategy is one of the companies that accumulates the most BTC in its reserves. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.net. Added to this is that MicroStrategy is currently a company dedicated to the development of products and services based on Bitcoin. An example was the recently announced MicroStrategy Orange protocol, which is a business identification system created in Bitcoin.