Metaplanet, the Japanese bitcoin treasury company, has launched a continuous bond issuance program called BitBonds and has completed its first issuance.
Metaplanet disclosed that on August 13, 2026 it issued four series of unsecured ordinary corporate bonds, the 21st through 24th series, for a combined 200 million yen (about 1.3 million dollars). The maturity is roughly three years and the annual interest rate ranges from 4.0 to 4.3 percent. The bonds were sold through its wholly owned subsidiary Metaplanet Securities to qualifying individual and corporate investors by way of a small-scale private placement under Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
Despite the name, BitBonds are not a product that pledges bitcoin as collateral. Nor are they tokenized bonds issued on a blockchain or settled on chain. They are yen-denominated fixed-rate corporate bonds that pay principal and interest on the basis of Metaplanet's general ability to repay.
These bonds are unsecured, unguaranteed senior debt and have not been rated by a credit rating agency. There is a contractual obligation to repay the principal at maturity, but there is no separate collateral or third-party payment guarantee behind it. If the company cannot repay principal and interest, investors may take losses.
The fact that Metaplanet's main asset is bitcoin is also a risk factor. A large decline in the bitcoin price could affect the company's financial condition and its ability to repay, but BitBonds investors hold no direct claim on any specific bitcoin the company holds.
These are also not bonds that trade freely on the open market. Private transfer is possible but transfer restrictions apply, and liquidity is not guaranteed. That means an investor may be unable to dispose of the bonds before maturity at the time and price they want.
This is not Metaplanet's first bond issuance. The company has already issued bonds through the 20th series. In April 2026 it issued the 20th series of bonds for 8 billion yen (about 50 million dollars), fully subscribed by EVO FUND, to raise funds for bitcoin purchases. The 20th series was a zero-interest private placement maturing in April 2027. EVO FUND, as the bondholder, could demand early redemption of all or part of the principal with five business days' notice. The terms also included a condition requiring corresponding early redemption once follow-on fundraising involving the same investor reached a certain threshold. The 20th series differs in structure from these BitBonds in that it was a short-term private placement to a single investor linked to follow-on fundraising. The specific economic reason EVO FUND accepted the zero-interest terms was not disclosed.
What has changed with these BitBonds lies less in the instrument itself than in the investor and cost structure. Where the previous bonds centered on a single institutional investor, BitBonds broaden the investor base to individuals and corporations through Metaplanet Securities. Paying a fixed rate of around 4 percent for roughly three years is also different from the immediately preceding 20th series. Because the maturity, investors, and redemption terms differ, the interest rates alone are hard to compare directly.
The first issuance was kept to a limited size in order to build the issuance, sales, and administration systems needed for future rounds. The company plans to continue issuing BitBonds in light of market conditions and investor demand, and, as issuance size grows, to put in place a framework for public bond offerings through steps such as filing a securities registration statement and appointing a bond administrator.
Metaplanet has designated BitBonds, alongside common stock, equity-linked securities, and preferred stock, as a core instrument for medium- to long-term fundraising. The idea is to broaden its investor base in the yen bond market through a structure in which the company designs the financial product and its wholly owned subsidiary Metaplanet Securities sells it to investors.
The recent funding environment also appears to have influenced the introduction of BitBonds. Metaplanet has a policy of not, in principle, raising funds through common stock when its mNAV, the company's enterprise value divided by the net asset value of its bitcoin holdings, is below 1.
In the first half of 2026, mNAV was below 1 for most of the period. However, during the periods when the condition of an mNAV of 1.01 or higher was met, part of the 27th series stock acquisition rights was exercised, resulting in the issuance of 5.27 million shares during the second quarter. Apart from that, no separate common stock was issued to fund bitcoin purchases.
As of the end of June, the company had drawn 414 million dollars of a 500 million dollar bitcoin-backed credit line. That is 82.8 percent of the total limit. At the same date its bitcoin holdings stood at 43,000 BTC. Metaplanet maintains its target of expanding holdings to 100,000 BTC by the end of 2026.