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(Bloomberg) — The ripple effects of US President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto agenda are fueling a surge in Bitcoin demand in Japan, where one hotelier’s pivot to stockpiling the cryptocurrency is delivering eye-watering returns for shareholders.
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Shares of Metaplanet Inc. are up around 4,800% over the past 12 months, the largest gain among all Japanese equities in that period and one of the highest globally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bitcoin itself hit a record high of $109,241 on Jan. 20 as Trump was sworn in for his second term, although it’s since erased some of those gains as his trade policies fanned global instability.
Metaplanet is one of a number of outfits around the world that aim to emulate the success of Michael Saylor’s Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy Inc. The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company has morphed into a leveraged Bitcoin proxy and behemoth after accumulating more than $45 billion of the token.
Metaplanet’s CEO, former Goldman Sachs equity derivatives trader Simon Gerovich, said he was drawn to the idea after hearing about Saylor’s strategy on a podcast. He’d been running Metaplanet, formerly Red Planet Japan Inc., as a hotel developer since 2013, but shifted to a “Bitcoin-first strategy” in early 2024 after a pandemic slowdown forced the company to shutter all but one of its hotels.
Since then, Metaplanet’s shareholders have increased to almost 50,000, growing by 500% in 2024, according to the company. Shareholders include Capital Group — which also invests in Strategy — but the vast majority are retail investors, many of whom have limited experience with volatile crypto assets.
“Metaplanet has such high exposure to the volatile retail base,” said Rhiannon Ewart-White, Japan equity analyst and managing director of UK-based Storm Research. “They need to make sure shareholders understand exactly what their strategy is.”
After six straight years of losses, the company reported ¥350 million ($2.3 million) in operating profit for the year ended December 2024 on Monday. The results will likely bolster Metaplanet’s stock further, said Ewart-White.
Gerovich, who attended Trump’s inauguration ceremony in Washington last month, told Bloomberg in an interview that “the excitement around a more Bitcoin-friendly regulatory environment” in the US has catapulted demand in Japan for the token.
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