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Japanese Market Rebounds as Metaplanet Buys US$58M in Bitcoin
- The Japanese market has hit back following its best day in history, ending Tuesday up 10.2%.
- The stunning turnaround means the Nikkei 225 – an aggregate of Japan’s top 225 companies – is only trading a percent or two lower than before the market crash on Monday.
- Meanwhile, prominent Japanese tech company Metaplanet is snapping up Bitcoin at a discount.
- The business’ Board of Directors approved the sale of stock acquisition rights to raise money for BTC, beginning on September the 6th.
Perhaps the hysteria was just a little pre-emptive.
For lack of a better phrase, traders around the world sh$& their pants after a recent US jobs report showed rising unemployment and hiring slowdowns, stoking fears of a recession. The result was pandemonium across the markets, with Bitcoin bearing the brunt of the damage in a 25% smashing.
Traditional stocks didn’t fare a whole lot better, with several tech stocks plummeting by a similar amount – and even a few indices didn’t escape the carnage. The biggest story of the crash was the Japanese market, with the Nikkei 225 index tumbling 12.4% on Monday.
But as they say, what goes down must come up…and the Japanese stock market hit back at the wave of panic sellers with a huge 10.3% rebound. This was the biggest daily rise for the market in its history, leaving the nation’s top 225 index barely below its pre-crash price point.
Blood was shed, corrections were had and diamond hands were tested – and now a lot of assets are “on sale”, including Bitcoin.
Related: Raoul Pal Delivers Urgent Update on Market Flash Crash
Metaplanet to Bolster Bitcoin Holdings Despite Stock Price Failure
Japan has been the centre of economic attention over the past couple of days, and one of the nation’s biggest companies, Metaplanet, is using the downturn to sneak a few extra Bitcoin into its portfolio.
Although BTC has recovered solidly from Monday’s calamity, it’s still down 16% over the past seven days – which may present a great buying opportunity for some.
Metaplanet, oft compared to MicroStrategy, unveiled its new investment strategy – put 8.5 billion yen (AU $90m) into Bitcoin. This will be accomplished via “stock acquisitions” for shareholders. Basically, Metaplanet are copying MicroStrategy’s playbook by raising money from existing investors to pump the cash into Bitcoin to “bolster the [company’s] balance sheet”.
The company already owns 245.992 BTC, at an overall price of 2.25 billion yen (AU$23.7m). The portfolio is currently worth about AU$20 million – so Metaplanet can now average down their buying price thanks to Monday’s crash.
Despite currently sitting at a loss, previous purchases of BTC were met with optimism from the Japanese market. A July announcement of the Bitcoin acquisition sent Metaplanet’s share price into a frenzy, jumping 10% within 24 hours.
Related: Australian Bitcoin ETFs See Net In-Flows as Investors Ignore Market Crash and Panic
However, the company was a major casualty of Japan’s horror week, with the Metaplanet stock trading nearly 41% lower over the past five days.
Author
Ben Knight
Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.
