Metaplanet swings to $170M loss as Bitcoin sale hits earnings

Metaplanet sold the 10,000 BTC for 124.7 billion yen and temporarily held the proceeds in cash, stablecoins and other liquid assets. It then spent 149.9 billion yen to buy 11,000 BTC, paying 9.3% more per coin on average.

The company said the sale was meant to show rating agencies and bond investors that it could turn its Bitcoin into cash to meet financing obligations. At the end of September, holdings rose by a net 1,000 coins to 44,000 BTC.

Metaplanet borrowed against its Bitcoin holdings during the quarter, increasing the amount it owed under the credit line to $649.5 million at the end of September from $414 million at the end of June.

The company funded Bitcoin purchases from the second quarter onward with money borrowed under the credit line, proceeds from bond sales and the exercise of stock acquisition rights, and revenue from its Bitcoin options business.

Metaplanet’s interest expense rose 56% from the previous quarter to 1.36 billion yen ($8.5 million). Short-term borrowings and bonds payable totaled 110.5 billion yen ($691 million) at the end of September.

For the nine months through September, revenue rose 30.5% to 5.9 billion yen ($36.9 million), while operating profit increased 26.5% to 3.48 billion yen ($21.8 million).

The company cut its full-year revenue forecast to 6.5 billion yen ($40.6 million) from 16 billion yen ($100 million).

Bitcoin treasury companies face pressure from falling prices, index removals. Index provider MSCI confirmed Wednesday that Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi would be removed from its equity indexes at the Nov. 30 market close, potentially prompting funds that track those benchmarks to sell the shares.

JPMorgan previously estimated that Strategy’s removal could result in roughly $2.8 billion in selling pressure from MSCI-linked funds.

Bitcoin fell below $70,000 on Friday and was trading around $68,600 as of 4:51 p.m. UTC, down about 9% over the previous week, according to CoinGecko data.