Japanese company Metaplanet has agreed to acquire Tokyo-based brokerage Siiibo Securities for 2.1 billion yen, roughly $13 million. The deal is expected to close in July 2026, after which Siiibo will be rebranded Metaplanet Securities. The acquisition marks the first concrete step in Project Nova, Metaplanet's long-term plan to build a Bitcoin-focused financial business in Japan.
The License Behind the Deal
Siiibo Securities holds a Type 1 Financial Instruments Business license, which allows the firm to work directly with retail investors in Japan. Obtaining this type of regulatory approval from scratch is difficult and takes years. For Metaplanet, the purchase offered a shortcut to the Japanese retail market.
Siiibo built its name in the corporate bond space. The firm pioneered Japan's online corporate bond market, supporting over 100 bond offerings for more than 40 companies. Its client base, technical platform, and team will transfer to Metaplanet after the deal closes.
Before this acquisition, Bitcoin treasury firms in Japan could accumulate BTC but had no direct channel to retail investors. Metaplanet Securities changes that: through the licensed platform, the company will be able to offer Bitcoin-linked financial products to a broad audience without requiring each client to hold cryptocurrency themselves.
Project Nova: Beyond Accumulation
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich called the deal the first concrete step in Project Nova, the company's long-term plan to transform from a Bitcoin treasury into a full financial business. Metaplanet began buying Bitcoin systematically in 2024 as a hedge against yen depreciation. The strategy now reaches beyond accumulation.
"We view Bitcoin not merely as a treasury reserve asset, but as the foundation of the next generation of financial ecosystems."
- Simon Gerovich, CEO of Metaplanet, from the company's official press release, June 12, 2026
According to BitcoinTreasuries, Metaplanet holds 40,177 Bitcoin, worth approximately $2.6 billion at current prices. By corporate BTC reserve volume, the company ranks third globally. Earlier in 2026, Metaplanet also launched a venture arm to back Bitcoin startups and open-source developers.
Japan's $7.4 Trillion in Idle Savings
Gerovich pointed to a specific market opportunity. Japanese households hold roughly $7.4 trillion in cash and bank deposits, a legacy of decades of deflation that made keeping money in the bank more rational than seeking returns elsewhere.
That has started to shift. Japan entered sustained inflation for the first time in thirty years, and part of that capital is moving toward yield-generating instruments. In the press release, Gerovich said: "that capital has already begun searching for yield."
Through Siiibo's licensed platform, Metaplanet Securities will be able to offer Bitcoin-linked financial products to Japanese retail investors. Clients will not need to buy or store cryptocurrency themselves. Structured Bitcoin products lower the entry point for the average Japanese consumer familiar with traditional financial instruments.
Bitcoin Treasury Firms Move Into Product Development
Metaplanet is part of a broader move among large corporate Bitcoin holders to build financial infrastructure around their holdings. Strategy, which holds over 500,000 Bitcoin and runs the largest corporate BTC reserve in the world, said in 2024 it aimed to become a "Bitcoin bank," meaning a company that issues capital market instruments backed by Bitcoin for institutional clients. In May 2026, Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2022, raising questions about the long-term viability of that model.
DeFi protocol Morpho raised $175 million to expand Bitcoin lending to Wall Street clients. Kraken launched vault products that generate yield from Bitcoin without requiring the asset to be sold.
Among these players, Metaplanet stands out by holding a licensed retail investment platform in a specific jurisdiction. That gives the company a direct path to millions of Japanese investors, without going through banks or funds.
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