Metaplanet's tenth option pool expansion sparks shareholder discontent

ChainCatcher report: Metaplanet, Japan’s Bitcoin treasury company, continues to face shareholder discontent over its tenth round of executive option pool. Originally designed to represent 20% of fully diluted equity, the option pool automatically expands as the company issues new shares to acquire more Bitcoin. Some shareholders have called for the cancellation of the additional 273 million shares issued due to this adjustment and demanded greater transparency in future decision-making. On August 18, Metaplanet froze the option pool at 319.5 million shares, but critics argue this has exacerbated dilution for existing shareholders, as the pool expanded from 46 million to 319.5 million shares. Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich pledged to reassess the company’s governance and compensation policies and clarified his relationship with shareholder MMXX Ventures, stating that MMXX Ventures is merely a non-controlling significant shareholder of MMXX’s parent company and holds no executive position. On August 31, Metaplanet disclosed that Gerovich had exercised 92,000 shares from the option pool. Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, recommended freezing further exercise rights for the tenth-round option pool, encouraging holders to voluntarily relinquish excess rights, and replacing the tenth-round pool with a five-year incentive plan approved by shareholders, primarily tied to per-share fully diluted Bitcoin holdings. In its August 18 announcement, Metaplanet acknowledged that expanding the option pool “amplified the dilution borne by existing shareholders.” As of Wednesday’s Tokyo closing, Metaplanet’s stock price rose, narrowing its five-day decline to approximately 16.3%.