Metaplanet's Twin Headwinds: Index Expulsion and Near-87% Stock Rout as Stablecoin Bonuses Fail to Convince

Japanese Bitcoin investment firm Metaplanet faces dual crisis: index ejection and investor apathy to its JPYC stablecoin bonus, as stock drops 87% in a year.

A Japanese investment firm that once rode the Bitcoin wave to a peak market position now finds itself fighting for relevance on two fronts. Metaplanet's shares have slumped to €1.26 — just five percent above a 52-week low of €1.20 — after the company was ejected from the S&P Japan Mid Cap 100 and simultaneously launched a cryptocurrency bonus program that has left investors cold.

The S&P Dow Jones Indices decision to remove Metaplanet from the benchmark carries immediate consequences. Passive funds and exchange-traded products tracking the index are now forced to sell their positions, piling additional downward pressure onto a stock that has already lost 43 percent of its value since the start of 2025 and 87 percent over the past twelve months. The €2.40 level of its 200-day moving average looks distant.

A Stablecoin Carrot with Strings Attached

In a bid to keep shareholders engaged, Metaplanet has rolled out a bonus scheme centered on JPYC, a yen-pegged stablecoin. The first 1,000 participants will receive a total of over 1.5 million yen in digital tokens via the HashPort wallet. Three main winners get 100,000 JPYC each, while the rest receive smaller consolation amounts. But there's a catch: recipients must hold the stablecoins for at least one month before converting them into hard yen, effectively forcing them to interact with Metaplanet's web3 infrastructure.

The program builds on an earlier investment in JPYC Inc. from April 2026 and the company's participation in a Series B financing round valued at $17.62 million. That round, which brought JPYC's total funding to roughly $28.93 million, also drew capital from NCB Venture Capital, Hokuyo Bank, and Yokohama Capital. The funds are earmarked for system development, hiring, and expanding stablecoin capabilities across Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche, with additional blockchain integrations under consideration.

Deeper into the Bitcoin Ecosystem

Metaplanet's broader "Project Nova" strategy extends well beyond stablecoins. The company plans to acquire Siiibo Securities for 2.1 billion yen, a deal expected to close in July, and rebrand it as Metaplanet Securities — a unit that will offer Bitcoin-linked yield products. Meanwhile, Metaplanet remains the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder in Japan and the third-largest globally, with 40,177 BTC valued at a net asset worth of roughly 457.6 billion yen (about $2.8 billion).

That concentrated exposure cuts both ways. On June 23, Bitcoin twice dipped below $62,000, pressured by outflows from U.S. spot ETFs and a broad sell-off in Asian technology stocks. Such volatility directly impacts Metaplanet's net asset value and, by extension, its stock.

A Potential Regulatory Tailwind

There is one glimmer on the horizon. Japan's lower house has passed a bill that would bring cryptocurrencies under the nation's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. If enacted, the legislation could open the door to domestic crypto ETFs and tax reforms — shifts that would place Metaplanet in a more favorable regulatory environment. For now, though, the company's share price reflects none of that optimism. The application phase for the stablecoin bonus begins this summer, and market watchers will be watching closely to see whether shareholders accept the digital token offering or dismiss it as a costly marketing gimmick with no lasting impact on the stock's trajectory.