Japanese publicly traded firm Metaplanet has revealed plans to use its bitcoin (BTC) holdings as collateral for borrowing loans from financial institutions. The firm’s CEO, Simon Gerovich, noted this in a recent interview with the Financial Times, where he explained how the firm plans to achieve its target of holding 21,000 bitcoin by the end of 2027.
Metaplanet started as an Asian hotel management company. Following the devaluation of the Japanese Yen (JPY), it ventured into the cryptocurrency industry, adopting bitcoin as a reserve asset to hedge against inflation. Since then, it has amassed over 15,000 BTC, ranking among the world’s top five corporate holders of bitcoin. Following massive bitcoin profits, it has also attracted many Asian firms to join the moving bitcoin acquisition train.
BTC as Loan Collateral
In the interview, Gerovich reiterated the company’s plans to increase its holdings from 15,555, which it attained after yesterday’s purchase, to 210,000 BTC, representing 1% of the total bitcoin supply by the end of 2027. To achieve this, the Japanese CEO noted that the company is in “a bitcoin gold rush.”
“We need to accumulate as much bitcoin as we can … to get to a point where we’ve reached escape velocity, and it just makes it very difficult for others to catch up. Then we have phase two … when bitcoin, like securities or government bonds, can be deposited with banks, and then they’ll provide very attractive financing against that asset. We’ll get cash that we can use to buy profitable businesses, cash-flowing businesses,” Gerovich added.
Notably, many cryptocurrency platforms accept cryptocurrencies as collateral for loans, but this feature has yet to be fully integrated into traditional finance. Standard Chartered recently started allowing traders to deposit crypto as collateral for trading, not for loans. Thus, utilizing cryptocurrency as loan collateral is a feature that Gerovich aims to spearhead in the traditional financial market system.
Metaplanet’s CEO Dreams Big
The Japanese firm CEO also noted that he would “never” sell any bitcoins; instead, he would keep raising capital to buy more. He also stated that he supports his company in adopting any of the fundraising programs that the American bitcoin investment firm Strategy has used over the years to boost its crypto reserve.
Expressing optimism in Metaplanet’s crypto moves and replying to any forthcoming critics, he concluded:
“I encourage people to short our stock if they don’t believe in the story.”
In recent weeks, countless publicly traded firms within Asia and beyond have followed Metaplanet’s footsteps by adopting a strategic bitcoin reserve.
