The Japanese investment firm Metaplanet is testing the patience of its shareholders after regulatory filings confirmed the company took no action to stabilize its falling stock price in January.
Metaplanet Shares Slide as Management Declines to Support Stock
2 February 2026 - 15:30 CET
By Matt Neill
Despite having authorization to repurchase up to ¥75bn ($493mn) of its own shares, regulatory filings published on 2 Feb revealed that the company bought back nothing. A separate disclosure confirmed zero warrant exercises by the EVO Fund, leaving investors fully exposed to the "sequencing risk" created by the firm's recent decision to fund Bitcoin purchases with short-term debt.
A bridge built on volatility
The market’s primary concern centers on a $75mn loan Metaplanet drew last week to accelerate its Bitcoin accumulation. Management described this as temporary bridge financing, intended to be repaid once proceeds from a scheduled equity settlement arrive on 13 Feb. However, as we reported, this shift has left the market carrying the risk of a Bitcoin price drop before that cash arrives. With Bitcoin currently trading near $78,000, any further downward pressure could turn this "bridge" into a significant liquidity trap.
The strategy of following the "Strategy" playbook, using debt to buy digital assets, requires a level of market stability that currently does not exist. While the company holds more than 35,000 BTC, worth roughly $2.7bn at current prices, the absence of capital structure relief in January suggests that management is prioritizing accumulation over shareholder protection.
Chasing the dotcom ghost
The current share price slide, which saw a further 7% drop on Monday, reflects a growing skepticism regarding execution timing. This follows a broader weekend liquidity shock, which has left leveraged treasury players particularly vulnerable. Metaplanet has already faced significant headwinds this year; on 26 Jan, the firm took a $679mn Bitcoin impairment hit.
With no dilution relief yet realized and no capital returned to shareholders via buybacks, the next two weeks represent a critical test. Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has previously attempted to justify the volatility by comparing the firm’s performance to Amazon’s during the dotcom bubble, but the 2026 market is proving less forgiving. If Bitcoin continues to slide, the "temporary" bridge financing may become a permanent weight on a balance sheet that is already struggling under the weight of its own ambition.
