Metaplanet Buys 5,075 Bitcoin in Q1, Overtakes MARA in BTC Holdings

• Stacey George
• April 2, 2026
• News
• 0 Comments

Metaplanet’s Q1 Bitcoin purchase accelerated the race to treat digital assets as balance-sheet property, with the Tokyo-listed firm adding 5,075 Bitcoin for about $405 million and moving past MARA in the corporate treasury rankings. The move turned a quarter of aggressive accumulation into a clearer statement about who is willing to hold scarce on-chain assets at public-company scale.

In an April 2, 2026 timely disclosure, Metaplanet said it bought 5,075 BTC for an aggregate JPY 63.645 billion, or an average JPY 12,540,793 per BTC, lifting total holdings to 40,177 BTC as of March 31, 2026. Because the notice was issued through a Tokyo Stock Exchange filing tied to listing 3350, it carries more weight than treasury leaderboards that can lag fresh disclosures.

Bitcoin traded near $65,998 with a market cap of about $1.32 trillion as Metaplanet’s filing landed, underscoring how large a 40,177 BTC treasury has become in public markets.

Metaplanet’s Q1 Buying Changed the Corporate Holder Rankings

Decrypt reported that the new total moved Metaplanet into third place among public-company bitcoin treasury holders. That reading is grounded in the company’s disclosed 40,177 BTC balance and in the fact that a major rival spent March shrinking, not expanding, its reserve.

For readers focused on digital ownership, the significance is not just rank. A listed company that reports custody of 40,177 BTC is treating bitcoin as strategic digital inventory, not a sidecar trade, and that changes how public markets price conviction around scarce on-chain assets.

Chief executive Simon Gerovich reinforced that message in an April 2, 2026 X post, where he highlighted a 2.8% year-to-date BTC yield alongside the quarter’s accumulation and the company’s March-end holdings. The post matters because it distilled the filing into a market-facing statement from the executive driving Metaplanet’s treasury strategy.

メタプラネットは、2026年第1四半期を通じて5,075 BTCを約636.45億円で取得（1BTCあたり約12,540,793円）しました。2026年の年初来BTCイールドは2.8%を達成しました。2026年3月31日現在、当社の保有量は40,177 BTCで、約6,233.70億円（1BTCあたり約15,515,598円）で取得しています。 pic.twitter.com/LA3jTgaRJg

— Simon Gerovich (@gerovich) April 2, 2026

Why Passing MARA Matters Right Now

The ranking shift happened because one treasury was buying while another was deleveraging. MARA said it sold roughly 15,000 BTC, specifically 15,133 BTC, between March 4, 2026 and March 25, 2026 for approximately $1.1 billion.

The Leaderboard Moved Because Treasury Direction Diverged

That contrast is the real signal. Metaplanet expanded its reserve by JPY 63.645 billion in one quarter, while MARA used the proceeds from its disclosed sale to repurchase debt, which means the headline is about balance-sheet direction rather than abstract enthusiasm for bitcoin.

Because treasury tables can lag official disclosures, the cleanest comparison is between Metaplanet’s reported March 31, 2026 holdings and MARA’s own sale notice. That makes the ranking change more defensible than summaries that simply repeat cached corporate-holder lists.

What Metaplanet’s Move Signals for Bitcoin Treasury Strategy

Metaplanet paired accumulation with operating results. In a concurrent filing, the company reported JPY 2.969 billion in operating revenue from its Bitcoin Income Generation business, suggesting the treasury is being positioned as an earnings-supporting asset rather than a passive reserve.

That posture fits a broader digital-asset infrastructure race in which firms are also investing in security rails such as Naoris Protocol’s post-quantum mainnet rollout, testing policy frameworks like the Central Bank of Nigeria’s virtual asset pilot, and funding ecosystem growth through efforts such as TRON DAO’s Penn Blockchain Conference push.

What Readers Should Watch Next

The next checkpoint is whether Metaplanet can defend its disclosed 40,177 BTC position in later filings and whether rivals answer with fresh accumulation instead of financing-driven sales. Third-place status tends to pull in more market and media scrutiny because each new quarter becomes a visible test of corporate digital-asset strategy.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.