If Trump establishes strategic Bitcoin stockpile, Japan and other Asian nations will follow suit, says Metaplanet CEO

Key Takeaways

• If Trump establishes a Bitcoin strategic reserve, it could lead to Japan and other Asian nations doing the same.
• Metaplanet has achieved a 1,900% surge in share value, often referred to as Asia's MicroStrategy due to its Bitcoin investments.

If Trump implements Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, Japan and other Asian nations will follow the same path, said Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich at a recent Bitcoin event hosted by Michael Saylor.

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet, which began its Bitcoin strategy last April, currently holds 1,762 BTC valued at approximately $165 million. The company is often referred to as Asia’s MicroStrategy due to its investment approach.

Metaplanet’s Bitcoin adoption is a response to Japan’s rising debt and the volatility of the yen. Investing in Bitcoin has helped the company escape a challenging period, which Gerovich previously likened to being a “zombie” company.

“Slowly but surely seeing Bitcoin becoming a topic of discussion at the highest levels of government, corporations around the world beginning to adopt it as a Bitcoin standard,” Gerovich said . “Now all we wanna do is accumulate more Bitcoin over time for our shareholders. And so 2024 will go down as the year where it all began.”

The company reported its strongest financial performance since 2017, achieving a return of over 26 times its initial investment. Metaplanet’s shares surged 1,900% over the year, according to Yahoo Finance data , surpassing all Japanese stock indices.

When asked whether he thought the US President-elect would adopt Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, Gerovich said “absolutely.”

“Hopefully President Trump will do what he has said that he will, which is to make Bitcoin a strategic reserve, and then countries around the world will follow,” he added.

It was one of Trump’s key crypto promises , and with his election, the crypto community is hopeful that he will deliver on this commitment.

Since winning the second term, Trump has made strides to fulfill his promises, including creating a more crypto-friendly environment for businesses.

He has appointed several individuals with pro-crypto and pro-innovation perspectives to key financial positions. All confirm an imminent shift in the regulatory approach to the fast-growing industry.

“We’re gonna do something great with crypto. We don’t want China or anybody else to lead — we want to be the head,” Trump stated as he rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange following his election victory.

If the US doesn’t take the lead in crypto, another country, likely China, will, Trump told Bloomberg in a last year interview. The President-elect previously declared that the US “must be the leader in the field, there is no second place.”