Metaplanet Cuts Series 10 Stock Pool by 41%, Plans Hong Kong Subsidiary

Reduction of Series 10 Stock Pool and Changes to Option Terms

Metaplanet announced a 41% cut in the potential shares linked to its Series 10 stock acquisition rights, lowering the amount from 319.464 million to 188.19 million by adjusting the conversion ratio from 1:696 to 1:410, mirroring the level before its planned international share offering in September 2025, CEO Simon Gerovich revealed in a Friday post on X.

Shares already issued from prior exercises will remain unaffected; the reduction applies only to future issuances.

Gerovich explained that this adjustment will eliminate over $220 million in warrant value but boost the company’s Bitcoin per fully diluted share by approximately 8.8%.

Metaplanet also abandoned plans to transfer up to 90,000 rights to a long-term employee incentive vehicle, opting instead to collaborate with a global compensation consultant to develop a new rewards program. Under the revised agreements, unvested rights will be further restricted in exercising, with one-third becoming exercisable in 2029, 2030, and 2031 respectively.

Shareholder Backlash and Governance Decisions

This revision follows shareholder outcry over the expansion of the option pool from an initial 46 million shares to 319.5 million. While Metaplanet had fixed the pool at 319.5 million shares on August 18, several shareholders urged the company to revoke the additional 273 million potential shares from the expansion.

Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, described the change on X as a "meaningful concession" aligning management’s interests more closely with those of shareholders.

On August 31, Metaplanet disclosed that Gerovich exercised rights to buy 92,000 shares from the Series 10 pool but recused himself from board discussions and votes on the adjustments due to holding these rights personally.

The company has earlier acknowledged that expanding the pool exacerbates dilution experienced by existing shareholders.

Plans to Launch Hong Kong Subsidiary

Alongside the stock pool adjustments, Metaplanet announced its intention to establish Metaplanet Asset Management Asia Limited in Hong Kong, capitalized initially with $1 million and planned to launch in September.

This subsidiary will engage in trading Bitcoin, equities, and credit products during Asian market hours.

This new entity forms part of Metaplanet’s “Project Nova,” an ambitious effort to build a Bitcoin-centric platform encompassing asset management, securities, capital markets, and other financial services.

Earlier in June, Metaplanet agreed to acquire Siiibo Securities in a 2.1 billion yen ($13.1 million) deal aimed at expanding its securities business.

Market Reaction

Metaplanet’s share price dropped 3.8% on Friday, contributing to a 15% decline over the past five days, according to Yahoo Finance data.

The stock depreciation reflects investor response to recent capital structure changes and corporate strategy developments.