Metaplanet Gains Lead as No Strategy Delays Japan Digital Credit Launch
Michael Saylor confirmed Strategy will pause Japanese listings for a year, giving Metaplanet the opportunity to introduce high-yield Mercury and Mars products in Japan’s perpetual preferred market.
At the Bitcoin MENA conference, Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor stated the company will not list perpetual preferred equity or digital credit in Japan within the next 12 months, allowing Metaplanet to move forward with its Mercury and Mars instruments. Mercury, modeled after Strategy’s STRK, offers a 4.9% annual yield in yen with convertibility, significantly higher than average Japanese deposit rates, and is targeted for listing by early 2026. Mars will mirror Strategy’s STRC short-duration high-yield credit product. Japan’s regulations prohibit at-the-market share sales, leading Metaplanet to use a moving strike warrant mechanism. Metaplanet aims to become the sixth and seventh listed perpetual preferreds in Japan’s market, which currently has only five. Saylor indicated multiple bitcoin treasury companies could issue digital credit, while Metaplanet plans to focus issuance in Japan and Asia.
- Digital credit products: Blockchain-based financial tools that enable lending or yield generation without traditional banking intermediaries.
- Yield: The income return on an investment, expressed as a percentage of the invested amount.
- Perpetual preferred equity: A class of financial instrument with no maturity date that pays fixed dividends and typically has priority over common stock in asset distribution.