Metaplanet (3350), Japan’s largest corporate bitcoin holder and the world’s third-largest bitcoin treasury company with 40,177 BTC on its balance sheet, has confirmed a delay to its planned preferred stock listing.
CEO Simon Gerovich cited the complexity of navigating Japan’s underdeveloped preferred stock market as the main reason for the delay.
The company’s planned instrument would be only the seventh preferred stock listed in Japan, Gerovich said, and, notably, the first perpetual preferred stock on the market.
Metaplanet announced a two-tier listed preferred stock class, Mars and Mercury, in November. The move came after Strategy launched its own preferred stock, with Stretch (STRC) among the most popular.
Two key obstacles have stood in the way of Metaplanet’s preferred stock listing.
First, Japanese foreign exchange rules require that preferred dividends be backed by recurring and sustainable cash flows evaluated under multiple market conditions. Metaplanet must demonstrate that its Bitcoin revenue-generating business can produce stable returns even in adverse Bitcoin environments, and has only a six-quarter operating history.
Second, the company’s ambition to pay monthly dividends is much more frequent than Japan’s typical cadence of once or twice a year, requiring an entirely new dividend infrastructure to be built on record dates.
Gerovich concluded that the company is committed to delivering preferred shares to the market and highlighted Japan’s status as one of the world’s most underperforming capital markets.
In terms of profit, the company posted net sales of $19.5 million (3.08 billion yen, up 251% year-on-year) and operating income of $14.4 million (2.27 billion yen, up 283%). Meanwhile, bitcoin’s performance reached 2.8% so far this quarter.
Metaplanet shares are down 25% so far this year.
