Metaplanet Fuels Bitcoin Bet With $50M Zero-Cost Debt Move

A Tokyo-listed company is borrowing $50 million to buy Bitcoin — and it won’t pay a single dollar in interest to do it. Metaplanet announced Thursday it had sold its 20th series of ordinary bonds, worth 8 billion Japanese yen, to EVO Fund — a Cayman Islands-based investor tied to Evolution Financial Group.

Bonds With No Interest Rate Attached

The bonds carry a zero-coupon rate, meaning Metaplanet pays no interest over the life of the loan. The full principal comes due in April 2027. All proceeds go directly toward buying more Bitcoin.

The structure is aggressive by any measure. The company is betting that Bitcoin’s price a year from now will be high enough to justify repaying the loan at face value.

Based on filings, the bonds are unsecured, which means there is no collateral backing the debt. EVO Fund also holds the right to demand early repayment with just five business days’ notice — a clause that could put pressure on Metaplanet if crypto markets turn sharply.

A Pattern, Not A One-Off

This isn’t the first time EVO Fund has bankrolled Metaplanet’s Bitcoin buying. Reports indicate the firm has been the primary subscriber across multiple rounds of zero-coupon bond issuances that Metaplanet has used to fund its growing crypto stockpile.

The two parties have built a financing relationship that has helped Metaplanet accumulate one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holdings in Asia.

Going into this latest raise, Metaplanet already held roughly 40,177 BTC — built largely through an aggressive first quarter when it added more than 5,000 Bitcoin in three months.

That puts the company third among publicly listed firms worldwide by Bitcoin holdings, according to available data. The only companies ahead of it are operating at a significantly larger scale.

Comparisons to Strategy, the US firm that pioneered the corporate Bitcoin treasury model, have followed Metaplanet for some time. Both companies have used debt markets, not just cash on hand, to keep buying. But Metaplanet’s repeated use of a single investor for zero-rate funding sets it apart.

Metaplanet’s share price fell about 3.60% on the day the deal was disclosed, based on Yahoo Finance data. The drop suggests some investors aren’t fully sold on the strategy, even as the company keeps pushing forward.

Metaplanet said in its filing that the bond issuance is expected to have only a minimal impact on its consolidated results for the 2026 fiscal year. It added that if any significant change to its financial position emerges from the deal, it will issue a follow-up disclosure promptly.

Bitcoin was trading at $77,650 at the time of the announcement — the price Metaplanet needs to at least hold for its zero-cost debt bet to break even.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView