Metaplanet sold 10,000 BTC and repurchased 11,000 during the third quarter, increasing its holdings by a net 1,000 BTC to 44,000 BTC as of September 30, according to the Tokyo-listed Bitcoin treasury company and [BitcoinTreasurieshttps://bitcointreasuries.net/public-companies/metaplanet).

The transaction was designed to demonstrate to credit rating agencies and bond investors that Metaplanet could convert its Bitcoin holdings into cash when needed — the central question facing companies whose balance sheets are built around Bitcoin. The company sold more than the full principal amount of its bonds, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities, retained the proceeds as cash, and left the debts outstanding on their original terms.

“Rating agencies and credit investors ask one question of a Bitcoin company: can that Bitcoin be turned into cash to meet obligations, and will it be?” chief executive Simon Gerovich wrote on X. “We answered by doing it.”

I have two important updates to share with you today as we continue to build Metaplanet into a global financial platform rooted in Bitcoin. From the beginning, our strategy was never simply to accumulate Bitcoin. Our objective has been to build the leading Bitcoin financial… pic.twitter.com/SGgLSctFCs — Simon Gerovich (@gerovich) October 5, 2026

The company’s filing said that Bitcoin’s liquidity alone is not the key consideration for rating agencies and bond investors. They also want to know whether an issuer will actually sell the asset when its obligations fall due. Metaplanet chose to demonstrate that willingness through an actual transaction rather than simply make the assertion.

Metaplanet’s liabilities, net of cash and dollar stablecoins, stood at ¥122.4 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with ¥124.7 billion in sale proceeds. The company cited “a previously published issuer credit rating of an overseas peer company” as a precedent, saying the example showed that an issuer that refuses or is reluctant to sell its Bitcoin may have the asset assigned little weight in a credit assessment. Metaplanet did not identify the company.

S&P assigned Strategy a B- issuer credit rating in October 2025, the first such rating given to a Bitcoin treasury company. The agency cited low dollar liquidity among its concerns and warned that a downturn could force the company to sell Bitcoin at depressed prices. S&P’s rating followed that assessment. The concerns it identified — low dollar liquidity and the prospect of selling Bitcoin at depressed prices — are the same ones Metaplanet’s demonstration was designed to address.

Strategy has since adopted a Digital Credit Capital Framework that permits sales of up to $1.25 billion to fund its cash reserve, dividends and share buybacks. By August, it had sold 6,948 BTC for approximately $432.5 million. Strategy Chair Michael Saylor has described his position as never being “a net seller” of Bitcoin, rather than never selling Bitcoin. The company later resumed purchases and surpassed its previous record holdings late last month.

The purpose of the two companies’ transactions was different. Strategy sold Bitcoin to meet obligations, while Metaplanet sold Bitcoin to demonstrate that it could do so, held the cash, and then bought back more BTC than it had sold.

The transaction came at a cost. Metaplanet sold the Bitcoin at an average price of ¥12.47 million per BTC and repurchased it at an average of ¥13.63 million, roughly 9% higher. The additional 1,000 BTC therefore cost ¥25.2 billion, with repurchases priced near ¥13.6 million each. That premium is the quantified cost of proving convertibility rather than simply asserting it.

Because the Bitcoin sold had been acquired at prices above the sale price, the disposal generated a capital loss for U.S. tax purposes. Metaplanet estimates that the loss could produce a deferred tax asset — an accounting item that can offset future taxable income — of approximately $97 million at subsidiaries of its U.S. holding company. The estimate is preliminary and unaudited, and the asset may not be recognized. Metaplanet carries Bitcoin at fair value, so the transaction does not create a new accounting loss.

The company said it now intends to pursue a credit rating — an independent assessment of an issuer’s ability to meet its obligations — and that its Bitcoin Income Generation business has recorded revenue for eight consecutive quarters. Gerovich said Metaplanet’s holdings make it the second-largest listed Bitcoin treasury company in the world, reiterating that its strategy “was never simply to accumulate Bitcoin.”

Gerovich also announced a Net Interest Income Strategy, which he said is “designed to create recurring income streams and lower our effective cost of capital.” The strategy will operate alongside a pending Superplanet transaction and the development of Metaplanet Securities as part of what he described as a unified effort to build a Bitcoin-based financial institution.

The quarter also marked a further slowdown in the company’s Bitcoin accumulation. Metaplanet added 2,823 BTC during the second quarter, itself a reduction from earlier in the year. Its net addition during the third quarter was approximately one-third of that amount. The slower pace of purchases is consistent with the shift Gerovich described toward recurring income and financial services, and the pursuit of a formal credit rating now stands as the company’s stated next step.