Bitcoin-buying company Metaplanet has established a new venture firm, Metaplanet Ventures, to support Bitcoin ecosystem development in Japan, as the country looks to recognize Bitcoin as a regulated financial asset within the next two years.
Metaplanet said on Thursday that Metaplanet Ventures K.K. will be tasked with funding, incubating and scaling companies that build regulated Bitcoin financial infrastructure, particularly those that strengthen Japan's domestic ecosystem and make it a stronger competitor internationally.
Metaplanet said it is expanding its Bitcoin strategy on the expectation that Bitcoin (BTC) will be reclassified as a regulated financial asset by January 2028.
Metaplanet Ventures will be split into investment, incubation and grants programs.
The investment program will support seed-stage through to growth-stage startups that build Bitcoin infrastructure on the Bitcoin layer 2 Lightning Network and on other payments and lending-focused platforms.
Metaplanet said startups focused on stablecoins, trading in the options and derivatives markets, custody and tokenization may also receive backing, indicating that it may support crypto infrastructure beyond the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The incubator program will focus on early-stage Bitcoin and crypto infrastructure startups in the country, while the grants program will fund Bitcoin open-source developers, educators, researchers and community organizers.
Metaplanet said it expects to pour 4 billion Japanese yen ($25.2 million) into these programs over the first two to three years, which will be funded by cash flows generated from the company’s Bitcoin income business.
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich and board director Shinpei Okuno were named Metaplanet Ventures representatives.
Stacking Bitcoin still Metaplanet’s main priority
Despite the expansion into crypto startup investment, Metaplanet said accumulating and holding Bitcoin over the long term remains its “core focus.”
Metaplanet is the fourth-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, with 35,102 Bitcoin worth $2.44 billion marked on its balance sheet, BitcoinTreasuries.NET data shows.
The Gerovich-led company said in June that it aims to accumulate 210,000 Bitcoin — 1% of the Bitcoin network’s maximum supply — by the end of 2027.