Catenaa, Thursday, September 17, 2026- Metaplanet has cut the number of potential shares tied to a controversial executive stock-option program by 41% after shareholders raised concerns that the plan could heavily dilute existing investors.
The Tokyo-listed bitcoin treasury company said it will reduce shares potentially issuable under its Series 10 stock acquisition rights from about 319.5 million to 188.2 million.
The program allows executives and other holders to purchase shares at 10 yen each.
It dates to early 2023, more than a year before Metaplanet adopted its bitcoin treasury strategy.
Unlike conventional option programs with a fixed number of shares, the Series 10 structure allowed the number of shares available to increase as Metaplanet issued additional stock.
That became increasingly important as the company raised capital to buy bitcoin.
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich said the changes eliminate more than $220 million in warrant value and increase bitcoin held per diluted share by about 8.8%.
The company will reduce the conversion ratio for Series 10 rights from 696 shares for each option to 410 shares.
That brings the ratio back close to levels seen before Metaplanet expanded its international capital-raising program.
Metaplanet said earlier share sales had generated considerably more bitcoin value per share than later fundraising rounds.
As further stock was issued, the benefit to existing shareholders declined while holders of Series 10 rights gained greater potential value.
Gerovich acknowledged that the later issuance had created disproportionate benefits for option holders compared with ordinary shareholders.
The company is also delaying exercise of the remaining rights.
One-third will become exercisable in each of 2029, 2030 and 2031.
Shares obtained through the program cannot be sold until August 2031.
Metaplanet also canceled plans to transfer some existing Series 10 rights into a new employee incentive program.
Those rights will instead be canceled, while the company develops a separate compensation structure for employees.
The reversal follows sharp criticism from investors concerned that the option program could create a large number of new shares at a heavily discounted exercise price.
Metaplanet shares fell about 17% over two trading sessions earlier in the week after Gerovich’s initial response failed to calm investors.
The stock is down more than 38% this year.
That compares with a decline of about 10% for bitcoin and roughly 13% for Strategy, another major publicly traded bitcoin treasury company, according to market data cited by The Block.
Metaplanet has become one of the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holders through repeated equity offerings and other financing programs.
That strategy has depended on issuing securities while attempting to increase the amount of bitcoin backing each share.
The Series 10 controversy exposed the tension between raising capital aggressively and protecting existing shareholders from dilution.
Metaplanet’s decision to reduce the option pool indicates that management is attempting to restore that balance.
The company remains committed to its bitcoin treasury strategy, but the revised compensation structure places greater limits on the potential dilution created by incentives designed before that strategy began.
For shareholders, the immediate effect is a smaller future share pool and a higher amount of bitcoin per diluted share than under the previous structure.
The larger test will be whether Metaplanet can continue raising capital for bitcoin purchases without allowing new issuance to erode the per-share value that attracted investors to its treasury model.
