Blockware Intelligence Newsletter: Week 177
Bitcoin on-chain analysis, mining analysis, macro analysis; overview of 5/18/25 - 5/23/25
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Metaplanet Madness
Metaplanet, the Japanese Bitcoin Treasury Company led by Simon Gerovich and Dylan LeClair – and the first ever ‘MicroStrategy Clone’ – is up 2,700% since we first highlighted it in the Blockware Intelligence Newsletter on May 10th, 2025. See the tweet below from Mitchell Askew, Head of Blockware Intelligence.
Over just the past month Metaplanet is up nearly 120%. Atop the BTC rally providing fuel for the stock, there’s potential short-squeeze in play that could send this thing soaring. The short-term dynamics are interesting, especially given the international trading dynamics and idiosyncrasies, and we’ll elaborate on the dynamics below. But it’s important to first highlight why we have been long-term bullish:
Shorting Yen
Strategy ($MSTR) has been successful because they use intelligent leverage (low interest rates, high LTV, multiyear terms, convertible optionality) to short a weak, inflationary currency (US Dollar) and purchase an appreciating hard asset (Bitcoin).
Metaplanet takes this a step further because they are using intelligent leverage to short an even weaker currency, the Japanese Yen.
Regulatory Moat
The effective capital gains tax rate on BTC (and all crypto currencies) in Japan is as high as 55% depending on income. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on equities peaks at 20%. As such Japanese investors seeking Bitcoin exposure prefer to use a publicly traded vehicle like Metaplanet rather than purchasing Bitcoin directly. In this instance Metaplanet actually benefits from relatively hostile BTC legislation.
Less Jurisdictional Competition
US-Based Bitcoin Treasury Companies have far more competition. Not to mention they must go toe-to-toe with Strategy itself. Only 2 other publicly traded Japanese companies hold BTC; but neither of which have branded themselves as “Bitcoin Treasury Company.’ Rather, they simply use it to store excess cash flow – different business strategies.
Execution
The most important KPI for a Bitcoin Treasury Company is BTC-Yield – the measure of how much BTC a company acquires per fully dilute share. When BTC per Fully Diluted Shares increases, the long-term directional exposure each share has to BTC increases as well. Metaplanet has had 4 consecutive quarters with a BTC-Yield 40% or higher. No other BTC Treasury Company is executing at this level – not even Strategy.
Now that we’ve dissected the fundamentals – which are of the utmost importance – we can discuss the short-squeeze dynamics that are at play right now…