It is said that the encryption altcoin season is in the stock market, with Japan’s Metaplanet and America’s MicroStrategy as representatives of Bitcoin reserve strategies, both seeing significant increases in stock prices.

As of June 25, 2025, Metaplanet’s stock price has increased by approximately 300% since the beginning of the year, with a market capitalization of around 6 billion USD (854.8 billion JPY); meanwhile, MicroStrategy has only increased by 35% over the past six months, with a market capitalization of around 105 billion.

Metaplanet is referred to as the “Japanese version of MicroStrategy,” but public data shows that its Bitcoin reserves are only 11,111 coins, far below MicroStrategy’s 590,000 coins.

In comparison, Metaplanet has a lower market value, fewer Bitcoin reserves, yet its stock price has risen more.

So, if we simply draw a conclusion — “the lower the market cap of a Bitcoin reserve company, the greater the potential for stock price increase,” is this logic reasonable?

Yes, but also no.

Looking at the paper data alone, this logic is certainly not a big problem and is equally applicable for comparing high market cap coins and low market cap coins in the crypto space.

But the uniqueness of Metaplanet is also hidden in more financial data.

Metaplanet, a higher valuation premium

Currently, there are many comparative analyses of different crypto reserve companies on the market, but when looking at all the data together, the key metric is the valuation premium.

Last week,Primitive Venturesinvestment partner@YettaSingThe table significantly points out the difference in market valuation premiums for the two companies.

For example, the mNAV indicator (Multiple of Net Asset Value) in the table below, which is the multiple of net asset value. Metaplanet’s mNAV is as high as 10.35, while MicroStrategy is only 2.10, a difference of nearly 5 times.

What does this 5-fold gap mean?

In simple terms, mNAV is an indicator that measures a company’s valuation in relation to the value of its held Bitcoin assets. The higher the value, the more willing investors are to pay a premium for the company’s exposure to Bitcoin.

Therefore, it can also somewhat become an emotional indicator, reflecting the strength of the market’s confidence in Bitcoin investments and related companies. Quantitatively, this is approximately equivalent to Metaplanet holding 1 dollar of Bitcoin, with the stock market paying an additional premium of about 9.35 dollars, while MicroStrategy pays only 1.10 dollars.

In other words, the willingness of participants in the Japanese stock market to buy Metaplanet stocks exceeds that of MicroStrategy in the US stock market.

We do not conduct further analysis on the other data in the table; just from this one indicator, we can see that Metaplanet relies on a small-scale Bitcoin reserve and a high premium, while MicroStrategy depends on its massive assets to achieve a stable valuation.

However, under the tens of times difference in Bitcoin reserves, why did Metaplanet achieve a higher premium instead? Is it just because the Metaplanet company is smaller?

Buying Metaplanet is equivalent to buying tax-free BTC

One point that is different from the coin circle is that the stock market of a certain country is more easily influenced by the domestic economic environment and policies. The Japanese economy provides a unique soil for Metaplanet’s high premium.

In Japan, income from cryptocurrency trading is classified as Miscellaneous Income, subject to a progressive tax rate of up to 55% (including local taxes). This rate applies to individual investors who directly hold and sell cryptocurrencies, whether through exchange trading or peer-to-peer transactions.

In contrast, the capital gains tax on stock investments is only 20% (including local taxes).

In addition, Japan has a favorable NISA program (Nippon Individual Savings Account) designed to encourage personal savings and investment through a tax-exempt account system.

Under the NISA plan, individual investors can invest up to 3.6 million yen (approximately $25,000) per year, and capital gains and dividend income from this portion of the investment are completely tax-free. Starting in 2024, the investment limit for the NISA plan will be further increased to 6 million yen, providing broader coverage.

In other words, by investing in Metaplanet’s stocks through the NISA program, the returns can be completely tax-free within a certain range. This significant tax burden difference makes the cost of directly holding Bitcoin appear particularly high in the Japanese market.

Metaplanet’s “Bitcoin Reserve” strategy provides investors with a tax-optimized solution. By purchasing Metaplanet shares, investors can not only gain indirect exposure to Bitcoin but also enjoy lower tax costs.

This tax advantage directly drove market demand for Metaplanet stocks and became an important source of the aforementioned valuation premium of 5 times that of MicroStrategy.

In addition, the macroeconomic situation in Japan also supports the valuation premium of Metaplanet.

Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio has reached 235%, and the yield on 30-year government bonds has climbed to 3.20%, indicating structural pressure in the bond market. In such a macro environment, investors’ concerns about the depreciation of the yen and inflation have intensified.

The Bitcoin reserves of Metaplanet are seen as a hedging tool, capable of hedging against the depreciation risk of the yen while also providing value preservation in a domestic inflationary environment. This macro hedging demand further increases its market premium.

Secondly, the investor structure of the Japanese capital market is dominated by retail investors, while the US market is more led by institutional investors. Retail investors are more susceptible to policy and market sentiment, which may lead to a higher premium for Metaplanet.

In contrast, institutional investors in the US market pay more attention to fundamentals and asset size, which also explains why MicroStrategy focuses on “massive Bitcoin reserves” as its core appeal, while Metaplanet positions itself with “high premiums and small scales.”

When the environment becomes a new variable

Therefore, the high valuation premium of Metaplanet is not accidental, but a product of Japan’s unique policy environment. From tax policies to the NISA program, and to the structural characteristics of the capital market, these factors together shape the high premium of its stocks.

Looking only at the Bitcoin reserves and the company’s market value, it is actually impossible to analyze these aspects; the stock market may place more emphasis on local customs and culture than the crypto market, where the environment is key.

Policy-driven premiums have opened new opportunities for crypto investment.

When the altcoin season occurs in the stock market, it has become a consensus that not only the Bitcoin reserve amount or market value is considered, but also the policy dividends, investor structure, and macroeconomic pressures jointly determine the valuation of “coin stocks.”

More and more small and medium-sized crypto reserve companies are rapidly emerging, replicating Metaplanet’s high premium model, but the reasons for the premium vary.

To some extent, this is more and more complex for investors than the factors to consider when trading in the coin circle altcoins.

The rise of coin stocks not only expands the geographical landscape of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investments but may also reshape global capital flows, posing greater challenges to the energy and understanding of investors in the coin circle.

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