Metaplanet Stands by Bitcoin as Market Losses Pile Up

Metaplanet’s shares fell 5.56% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bitcoin trades about 50% below its October 2025 peak. The company holds 35,102 BTC and has not indicated any plans to sell, despite its holdings sitting on unrealized losses. The broader market is still under stress, with corporate Bitcoin treasuries reporting large paper losses, $1.84 billion in crypto long liquidations in a single day, and spot Bitcoin ETFs recording nearly $1 billion in net outflows over two days. 

Metaplanet Presses On With Bitcoin Strategy

Metaplanet’s leadership said that it plans to stay committed to a Bitcoin-first corporate strategy despite one of the most severe crypto market drawdowns since 2022. On X on Friday, Simon Gerovich, the CEO of Metaplanet, said there had been “no change” to the company’s approach, and added that it will continue to steadily accumulate Bitcoin, grow revenue, and position itself for the next phase of expansion.

X post from Simon Gerovich

The comments came as Metaplanet’s shares fell alongside the broader market weakness. The company’s stock closed down 5.56% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at 340 yen, or roughly $2.16.

Metaplanet is one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders globally and currently ranks fourth among public Bitcoin treasury companies, trailing Strategy, MARA Holdings, and Twenty One Capital. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET, Metaplanet holds 35,102 BTC.

Top Bitcoin treasury companies (Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET)

The renewed volatility has left most of the corporate treasury landscape under pressure. Bitcoin is trading roughly 50% below its all-time high of $126,080 that was set in October 2025, while market sentiment deteriorated rapidly. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to its lowest level since the Terra Luna crisis in May 2022 due to the depth of investor anxiety. Derivatives markets also reflected the stress, with Coinglass reporting $1.84 billion in liquidations of long crypto positions on Thursday alone.

Losses are also becoming visible on corporate balance sheets. Strategy, the largest public holder of Bitcoin, reported a $12.4 billion net loss in the fourth quarter of 2025 as prices fell below its average acquisition cost of $76,052. The company’s shares dropped 17% during its earnings call, even as management explained that its capital structure is still resilient and that no major debt maturities loom until 2027.

Metaplanet appears to be taking a similar long-term stance. The company has not indicated any plans to sell its holdings, despite an average Bitcoin cost basis of $107,716, which places its treasury deep in unrealized loss territory at current prices. Pressure is not limited to Bitcoin-focused firms. 

Crypto treasuries centered on other assets are also feeling the strain, with Ethereum-focused companies like BitMine sitting on billions of dollars in unrealized losses as Ethereum prices are also depressed.

Bitcoin ETFs Shed Nearly $1 Billion

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continued to bleed capital this week, with close to $1 billion exiting spot Bitcoin ETFs over the past two trading days. Bitcoin’s price slid sharply and criticism around the products intensified fast. 

Data from Farside Investors shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $434 million in net outflows on Thursday, following $545 million in redemptions the day before. While funds briefly saw $561 million in inflows on Monday, that rebound failed to offset the subsequent withdrawals, which left net weekly outflows at roughly $690 million on Friday morning.

Bitcoin ETF flows (Source: Fraside Investors)

The ETF outflows coincided with  weakness in Bitcoin’s price, which fell to around $60,000 for the first time since October 2024 before rebounding modestly. According to CoinCodex, the move was a big technical breakdown that rattled investor sentiment. With no single catalyst clearly identified, the selloff caused some debate in the crypto community about whether Bitcoin ETFs are contributing to volatility rather than stabilizing the market.

BTC’s price action over the past 24 hours (Source: CoinCodex)

Critics argue that ETFs introduced a form of “paper Bitcoin” that dilutes the asset’s perceived scarcity. Bob Kendall, author of The Kendall Report, said in a recent X post that the same Bitcoin can now underpin multiple financial instruments simultaneously, ranging from ETF shares to futures, options, and structured products. He described this dynamic as resembling a fractional-reserve system rather than a traditional spot market.

Similar warnings were raised even before spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January of 2024. Josef Tětek of Trezor previously pointed out that ETFs could enable the creation of large amounts of effectively unbacked Bitcoin exposure, which could potentially weigh on the value of the underlying asset.

Despite the criticism and recent outflows, ETFs are still a major force in the market. Total assets held by spot Bitcoin ETFs stands at approximately $81 billion, with cumulative net inflows of $54.3 billion.