Metaplanet to Launch Bitcoin Yield Products by Acquiring Siiibo Securities

The deal is for $13 million.

The third-largest corporate holder of bitcoin has made another move to strengthen its cryptocurrency presence by agreeing to acquire Siiibo Securities, a licensed Type I securities company and a “pioneer of Japan’s online corporate bond market.”

The closing is expected in July, and Siiibo will be officially renamed to Metaplanet Securities, said Simon Gerovich, the CEO of the bitcoin treasury company.

The exec added that this marks his firm’s first major acquisition and the first concrete step in Project Nova. The latter is Metaplanet’s long-term strategy to build a “Bitcoin-centric financial ecosystem in Japan.”

Recall that Metaplanet followed Strategy’s path by adding BTC into its balance sheet a couple of years ago and has gradually become the third-largest corporate holder of the asset. Currently holding 40,177 units, Metaplanet trails only Twenty One Capital (43,514 BTC) and Michael Saylor’s Strategy (a whopping 845,256 BTC).

Gerovich said the significance of this acquisition is “hard to overstate,” as Japanese households hold roughly $7.4 trillion in cash, deposits, and low-yield products. Japan is gradually shifting from deflation to inflation, and this substantial capital has “began searching for yield.”

“By bringing Siiibo’s Type I registration and online securities platform into the group, we will develop and distribute Bitcoin-related yield products directly to Japanese investors, supported by the 40,177 BTC on our balance sheet, the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury in Asia,” added Gerovich.

Metaplanet’s stock price reacted with an immediate uptick, surging by over 3.6%. However, the broader scale remains closely tied to bitcoin’s decline as the shares are down by almost 32% monthly and by 47.5% over the past six months.