Bitcoin Slump Forces Metaplanet Into $728M Quarterly Loss
Metaplanet ended the first quarter of 2026 holding 40,177 Bitcoin — up from 35,102 at the close of December 2025 — after buying roughly 5,075 BTC during the period to become the third-largest publicly listed Bitcoin treasury company in the world. That aggressive accumulation came at a cost.
A Quarter Of Two Stories
The Tokyo-listed firm posted an ordinary loss of around $728 million for the three months ending March 31, driven by non-cash valuation markdowns on its Bitcoin holdings after the price of BTC dropped about 24% during the quarter — from roughly $87,000 on January 1 to around $66,000 by quarter’s end.
The loss widened sharply from the same period a year earlier, with the basic loss per share coming in at around $0.63, compared to roughly $0.078 12 months prior.
The bottom-line hit stood in contrast to the company’s operating results. Metaplanet reported Q1 operating income of 2.27 billion Japanese yen, or about $14.38 million, on net sales of roughly $19.5 million.
That works out to an operating margin of 73.6%. Revenue more than tripled year over year, up from about $5.5 million in the same quarter of 2025, with most of that growth coming from its Bitcoin Income Generation unit, which books option premiums and derivative valuation gains. Hotel operations contributed a smaller, steadier slice of revenue.
Borrowing To Buy More Bitcoin
To fund its Bitcoin purchases, Metaplanet drew further on a $500 million Bitcoin-collateralized credit facility. As of May 13, the company had $302 million outstanding under that arrangement.
Total net assets fell from $2.96 billion at the end of December to about $2.60 billion by March 31, as valuation losses outpaced new equity raised during the quarter.
Despite the losses, Metaplanet kept its full-year 2026 guidance unchanged. The company is still forecasting net sales of about $100 million and operating profit of around $72 million for the year. It did not provide ordinary or net income guidance, citing Bitcoin price sensitivity as the reason.
BTC Yield As The Measuring Stick
The company’s preferred performance measure, Bitcoin per diluted share, rose from 0.0240486 BTC to 0.0247319 BTC over the quarter, reflecting what Metaplanet calls a BTC yield of 2.8% for Q1.
The company frames this metric as its primary indicator of shareholder value, measuring Bitcoin accumulation on a per-share basis after accounting for dilution from new equity issuances.
Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView
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