Metaplanet, tax-free BTC for Japanese

Author: DeepTech TechFlow

It is said that the season of cryptocurrency imitation is in the stock market, with Japan's Metaplanet and the United States' MicroStrategy as representatives of bitcoin reserve strategies, both seeing significant increases in their stock prices.

As of June 25, 2025, Metaplanet's stock price has risen by about 300% since the beginning of the year, with a market value of around 6 billion US dollars (854.8 billion Japanese yen); while MicroStrategy has only risen by 35% in half a year, with a market value of around 105 billion.

Metaplanet is known as the "Japanese version of MicroStrategy," but public data shows that its bitcoin reserves are only 11111 coins, far less than MicroStrategy's 590,000 coins.

Compared to each other, Metaplanet has a lower market value and less Bitcoin reserves, but its stock price has risen more.

So, is it reasonable to draw a simple conclusion that "the lower the market value of a Bitcoin reserve company, the greater the potential for stock price growth"?

Yes, but also no.

Just looking at the paper data, this logic of course is not a big problem, and it also applies to comparing coins with large market capitalization and coins with small market capitalization in the currency circle.

But the uniqueness of Metaplanet is also hidden in more financial data.

Metaplanet, a higher valuation premium

There are many comparative analyses of different cryptocurrency reserve companies on the market, but the key indicator when putting all kinds of data together is the valuation premium.

Last week, YettaSing, a partner at Primitive Ventures, significantly pointed out the difference in market valuation premiums for two companies through a table.

For example, the mNAV indicator in the table refers to the Multiple of Net Asset Value, which is the multiple of net asset value. Metaplanet's mNAV is as high as 10.35, while MicroStrategy is only 2.10, nearly 5 times the difference.

What does this 5x difference mean?

In simple terms, mNAV is an indicator that measures the company's valuation relative to the value of its bitcoin assets. The higher the value, the more willing investors are to pay a premium for the company's exposure to holding bitcoin.

So, it can also be a kind of sentiment indicator, reflecting the strength of the market's confidence in Bitcoin investment and related companies to some extent. Quantitatively speaking, this is equivalent to Metaplanet holding $1 worth of Bitcoin, the stock market paying an additional premium of about $9.35, while MicroStrategy only pays $1.10.

In other words, the willingness of participants in the Japanese stock market to buy Metaplanet shares exceeds that of MicroStrategy in the US stock market.

We do not do more analysis on other data in the table, just from this indicator, we can see that Metaplanet relies on small-scale Bitcoin reserves and high premiums, while MicroStrategy relies on huge assets to achieve stable valuation.

However, despite the tens of times difference in Bitcoin reserves, Metaplanet actually received a higher premium. Why is that? Just because Metaplanet is a smaller company?

Buying Metaplanet is like buying tax-free BTC

One key difference from the currency circle is that the stock market of a country is more easily influenced by the domestic economic environment and policies. The Japanese economy, on the other hand, provides a unique soil for the high premium of Metaplanet.

In Japan, income from cryptocurrency exchanges is classified as miscellaneous income, subject to progressive tax rates, with the highest reaching 55% (including local taxes). This tax rate applies to the income generated by individuals holding and selling cryptocurrencies directly, whether through exchange trading or peer-to-peer transactions.

By contrast, the capital gains tax on stock investments is only 20% (including local taxes).

In addition, Japan also has a preferential NISA plan (Nippon Individual Savings Account), aimed at encouraging individual savings and investment through a tax-free account system.

Under the NISA plan, individual investors can invest up to 3.6 million yen per year (approximately $25,000), and the capital gains and dividends from this investment are completely tax-free. Starting in 2024, the investment limit for the NISA plan will be further increased to 6 million yen, with broader coverage.

In other words, by investing in Metaplanet's stock through the NISA plan, the profits can be completely tax-free within a certain range. This significant tax difference makes the cost of directly holding Bitcoin particularly high in the Japanese market.

Metaplanet's "Bitcoin Reserve" strategy provides investors with a tax-optimized solution. By purchasing Metaplanet stocks, investors can not only indirectly gain exposure to Bitcoin but also enjoy lower tax costs.

This tax advantage directly drives market demand for Metaplanet stock and is also a key source of its valuation premium over MicroStrategy as mentioned above.

In addition, the macroeconomic situation in Japan also provides support for the valuation premium of Metaplanet.

The Japanese debt-to-GDP ratio is as high as 235%, and the 30-year government bond yield has risen to 3.20%, indicating structural pressure in the bond market. In such a macro environment, investors' concerns about the depreciation of the yen and inflation have intensified.

Metaplanet's Bitcoin reserve is considered a hedge tool, which can hedge the risk of the depreciation of the Japanese yen and provide a hedging function in the domestic inflation environment. This macro hedging demand further increases its market premium.

Secondly, the investor structure of the Japanese capital market is mainly retail investors, while the U.S. market is dominated by institutional investors. Retail investors are more susceptible to policy and market sentiment, which may lead to a higher premium for Metaplanet.

In contrast, institutional investors in the U.S. market pay more attention to fundamentals and asset size, which also explains why MicroStrategy's core attraction is its 'huge bitcoin reserves,' while Metaplanet focuses on 'high premium, small scale'.

When the environment becomes a new variable

Therefore, the high valuation premium of Metaplanet is not accidental, but a product of Japan's unique policy environment. From tax policies to the NISA plan, to the structural characteristics of the capital market, these factors together shape the high premium of its stocks.

Just looking at the amount of Bitcoin reserves and company market value, it is actually impossible to analyze these contents; the stock market may pay more attention to local customs and environment than the currency circle.

Policy-driven premiums have opened up new opportunities for crypto investments.

When the cottage season occurs in the stock market has become a consensus, not only considering the bitcoin reserves or market capitalization, policy dividends, investor structure, and macroeconomic pressures jointly determine the valuation of "coin stocks".

And more small and medium-sized cryptocurrency reserve companies are also rising rapidly, copying Metaplanet's high premium model, but the reasons for the premium are not the same.

To a certain extent, this involves more factors and is more complex for investors than trading altcoins in the coin circle.

The rise of currency stocks not only expands the geographical map of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investments, but may also reshape global capital flows, posing more tests for coin circle investors' energy and understanding.