Metaplanet's Zero-Coupon Bond Machine Grinds On as TOPIX Threat Looms Over Bitcoin Stash

Japan's Metaplanet issues 20th zero-coupon bond, boosting Bitcoin holdings past 40,000 BTC, but faces TOPIX exclusion risk that could cut off passive capital inflows.

The world's third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder just issued its 20th zero-coupon bond, pushing its treasury past 40,000 BTC — but the celebration is tempered by a regulatory storm that could sever its access to Japan's biggest passive capital pool.

Metaplanet raised 8 billion yen ($50 million) through the latest debt sale, with the entire tranche snapped up by the Cayman Islands-based EVO Fund. The bonds carry no interest, no collateral requirements and no guarantees — an increasingly familiar structure for a company that has now issued 20 such instruments. Each note carries a face value of 200 million yen and matures in April 2027.

What makes the mechanism tick is the automatic redemption feature: as EVO exercises stock options in future financing rounds, the corresponding debt extinguishes itself. From the planned total of 37.1 billion yen in upcoming equity-linked financing, roughly 25.4 billion yen is earmarked for fresh Bitcoin purchases, with another 3.7 billion yen allocated to the Bitcoin yield strategy through April 2028.

A 40,000-BTC Milestone With a Yield Problem

Metaplanet added 5,075 Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2026, bringing its total hoard to 40,177 BTC — acquired at an aggregate cost of roughly $3.92 billion. That places the company third globally among publicly traded firms, trailing only Strategy (762,099 BTC) and Twenty One Capital (43,514 BTC).

To lower its acquisition costs, Metaplanet runs an options program that sells secured put options below the market price. When those contracts expire worthless, the company pockets the premium. The strategy generated $18.63 million in the first quarter alone, shaving roughly $3,900 off the cost basis of each newly acquired coin.

But the dilution math is getting ugly. Metaplanet issued 24.5 million shares at 499 yen and another 107.4 million shares at 380 yen in the first quarter, hammering per-share metrics. The internal BTC yield — which measures Bitcoin growth per diluted share — collapsed to 2.8 percent from 95.6 percent in the year-ago period.

The TOPIX Sword of Damocles

Far more consequential than any single bond issuance is the regulatory review underway at the Japan Exchange Group. JPX is considering whether to exclude companies whose assets consist of more than 50 percent crypto from the TOPIX index — a move that would block Metaplanet's planned index inclusion, originally slated for October 2026.

The public comment period runs until May 7, 2026, and the parallels to Strategy's near-death experience with MSCI are unmistakable. When MSCI floated a similar crypto exclusion rule, Strategy's stock cratered 60 percent as markets priced in passive fund outflows of up to $9 billion. MSCI ultimately backed down. Whether JPX follows suit remains an open question.

The industry group Bitcoin For Corporations has already mobilized a coalition, sending JPXI an open letter urging it to scrap the exclusion proposal and preserve TOPIX as a rules-based, neutral benchmark.

Short Sellers Aren't Buying the Story

Metaplanet's stock slipped 3.5 percent in a single session to trade around $339, with the six-month chart showing a 27 percent decline. The company regularly swaps places with other names for the top spot on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's most-shorted list.

Short sellers question the sustainability of the EVO financing loop. Their central concern: what happens if Bitcoin volatility spikes or EVO shifts its capital allocation strategy? The 52-week trading range of 284 to 1,930 yen underscores just how violent the swings have been.

Stablecoin Bet and the Infrastructure Play

Metaplanet's venture arm participated in a Series B round for JPYC, a yen-pegged stablecoin issuer that raised roughly 4.6 billion yen. The strategic rationale: Japan is on track to classify Bitcoin as a regulated financial asset by January 2028, which Metaplanet believes will require substantial infrastructure in custody, settlement and payments.

CEO Simon Gerovich remains committed to the "555 million plan" — a near-term target of 100,000 Bitcoin by the end of 2026, with a long-term goal of 210,000 BTC (roughly 1 percent of the total supply) by the end of 2027.

The next quarterly report arrives in May 2026, landing squarely in the window of maximum regulatory uncertainty. With elevated short interest and Bitcoin stabilizing around $77,800, investors will be watching two things closely: the pace of equity issuance and the trajectory of BTC yield — the internal metric that has already fallen from triple-digit growth to near-single digits in one year.