Metaplanet's bitcoin round trip: 10,000 BTC sold, 11,000 bought, holdings at 44,000 BTC

Metaplanet, a Japanese company that holds bitcoin on its own balance sheet, added a net 1,000 bitcoin in the third quarter. Its holdings reached 44,000 BTC, worth about $3.8 billion, as of Sept. 30, according to the company's announcement as reported by CoinDesk.

The net gain came from an unusual round trip. Metaplanet sold 10,000 BTC and then bought 11,000 BTC, so it finished the quarter with slightly more bitcoin than it started with, even though it paid more money on the way back in.

Selling 10,000 coins, then buying 11,000

The sale brought in about $789.2 million, at an average price of $78,925 per coin. The company then bought 11,000 BTC for $948.7 million, at an average of $86,246 per coin, a higher price than the one it sold at.

Metaplanet said it held the sale money in cash for a while to show that it could cover its outstanding interest-bearing debt. Those debts were not repaid with that cash.

The figures behind the quarter

• Net bitcoin added in Q3: 1,000 BTC
• Total holdings as of Sept. 30: 44,000 BTC, about $3.8 billion
• Bitcoin sold: 10,000 BTC for about $789.2 million, averaging $78,925
• Bitcoin bought: 11,000 BTC for $948.7 million, averaging $86,246
• Total cost of current holdings: about $4.33 billion, averaging $98,454 per BTC
• Shares closed 2% higher Monday at 297 yen, about $1.88

One comparison stands out. The stated value of the holdings, about $3.8 billion, is below the roughly $4.33 billion the company says it paid for them.

What the CEO said

CEO Simon Gerovich said the announcements show the company's goals go beyond holding more bitcoin. His words, as quoted by CoinDesk: "Our objective has been to build the leading Bitcoin financial company in Asia."

Two new plans to earn income

Metaplanet introduced what it calls a Net Interest Income Strategy. Under it, the company plans to invest mainly in preferred securities issued by other bitcoin treasury companies. Preferred securities are shares that pay dividends and rank ahead of ordinary shares when payments are due. Metaplanet plans to put roughly 10% to 15% of its total assets into these investments, and says it wants returns above what it pays to fund itself, so it can service its debts and keep buying bitcoin.

The company also runs an options-based business, called Bitcoin Income Generation. Options are contracts that give the right to buy or sell an asset at a price set in advance. That business reported about $5.4 million in revenue for the third quarter. Revenue fell 51% from the second quarter and 65% compared with a year earlier. Revenue for the first nine months reached about $35.2 million, and this was the eighth quarter in a row with revenue.

What is confirmed and what is not

The confirmed part is the transaction data. The holdings, the size of the sale and purchase, the prices paid and the revenue figures all come from Metaplanet's own announcement, as reported by CoinDesk.

What the reporting does not explain is why Metaplanet chose to buy 11,000 BTC at a higher average price than the 78,925 dollars it sold at. The stated purpose was to show liquidity and strengthen its credit profile. No further reasoning is given in the source, and no independent check of the figures is included there.

Why this matters

Metaplanet is one of the companies that added bitcoin to its balance sheet as a treasury strategy. Its latest moves show a shift in how such a company is run. The company is now describing lending to other bitcoin holders, issuing securities-linked investments and trading options as sources of income, rather than describing itself only as a holder of bitcoin.

The reported numbers also show how quickly that income can move. Options revenue fell more than half from the previous quarter and dropped 65% year over year, even as the company's bitcoin total rose.

Sources

• CoinDesk