Metaplanet Buys 5,075 BTC, Overtakes MARA as Third-Largest Holder

• Metaplanet bought 5,075 BTC for 450M in Q1 2026 and passed MARA to become the third-largest Bitcoin holder.
• MARA sold 15,133 BTC for $1.1B and cut off 15% of its staff to repay debt and pivot toward AI infrastructure.
• Metaplanet targets 100,000 BTC and could intensify corporate buying as miners shift capital strategies.

Metaplanet acquired 5,075 Bitcoin for approximately $405 million in Q1 2026, overtaking MARA as the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, with a total of 40,177 BTC. Meanwhile, MARA, the U.S. miner, sold 15,133 BTC worth $1.1 billion and laid off 15% of its workforce to repay debt and pivot to AI infrastructure. These contrasting moves highlight diverging Bitcoin treasury strategies.

On April 2, 2026, in a significant boost to its Bitcoin treasury strategy, Tokyo-listed Metaplanet Inc. (TSE: 3350) acquired 5,075 Bitcoin (BTC) during the first quarter of 2026 in a single week, surpassing MARA Holdings to rank as the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The purchases were completed by March 31, 2026, for $450 million.

Source:X

Metaplanet adopted its BTC standard strategy in April 2024 and has rapidly scaled its holdings through equity, warrants, and purchases, achieving a 2.8% BTC Yield in Q1 2026 while treating Bitcoin as a treasury reserve.

This latest purchase brings Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin holdings to 40,177 BTC, with a cumulative cost of about $4.18 billion, averaging $97,593 per BTC. At current market prices, Metaplanet, trading under the ticker MPJPY, has an Enterprise value of $3B.

Between March 4 and March 25, 2026, MARA Holdings sold 15,133 BTC for about $1.1 billion. The company used most of the proceeds to repurchase roughly $1 billion of 0.00% convertible senior notes due in 2030 and 2031 at a 9% discount. This reduced MARA’s convertible debt by about 30%, from $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion, and cut its Bitcoin holdings by 28%, from 53,822 BTC to 38,689 BTC.

A 15% staff reduction followed the Bitcoin sales. The layoffs carried out in waves across multiple departments in early April reflect MARA’s broader strategic pivot away from a pure-play Bitcoin mining model.

The reduction in MARA’s holdings directly enabled Metaplanet to surpass MARA and become the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder globally. MARA framed this move as a strategic shift from pure BTC mining toward AI and energy infrastructure.

Many public BTC miners face sustained pressure from post-halving economics, elevated energy costs, and compressed margins in 2026. As a result, several companies are shifting away from pure BTC HODL models. Firms like Core Scientific, Hut 8, and Cipher Mining are repurposing data centers for AI workloads, often selling part of their Bitcoin holdings to fund the transition or manage their balance sheets.

Dedicated Bitcoin treasury companies, treating BTC as a primary reserve rather than a mining byproduct, continue aggressive purchases even as overall corporate buying slows. Metaplanet aims for 100,000 BTC by end-2026 and 210,000 BTC by 2027 through equity raises and disciplined accumulation, concentrating supply among committed players and reinforcing Bitcoin’s strategic reserve role.

Therefore, this environment could foster greater concentration among the smaller groups of committed players, reinforcing Bitcoin’s role as a strategic corporate reserve amid volatility.

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