The Japanese Bitcoin treasury plans to back Bitcoin infrastructure startups through equity investments, incubation and grants.
Tokyo-listed Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet is establishing a wholly-owned corporate venture subsidiary called Metaplanet Ventures to fund and incubate companies building regulated Bitcoin financial infrastructure in Japan.
Metaplanet Ventures is expected to invest up to ¥4bn ($25m) over a two-to-three year period and will be funded through proceeds from its parent company’s Bitcoin income business.
The unit will operate across three programmes: a direct venture investment arm targeting seed-to-growth stage companies in areas including custody, lending, payments, stablecoins, derivatives and tokenisation; an incubator offering seed capital and access to Metaplanet’s distribution and investor network, with acquisition possible for strategically aligned companies; and a grants programme for Bitcoin open-source developers, educators and researchers in Japan.
Metaplanet Ventures’ first investment will involve a loan of up to ¥400m for JPYC, a yen-denominated stablecoin issuer, which is scheduled for next month.
The move reflects Metaplanet’s view that Japan’s regulatory environment, including an anticipated reclassification of Bitcoin as a regulated financial asset by January 2028, will require domestic infrastructure that does not yet exist at scale.
The launch of the unit was disclosed alongside the announcement of Metaplanet Asset Management, a US-based subsidiary that will offer Bitcoin-related equity, credit, commodity and volatility instruments, serving both western and Asian capital markets.
