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Strategy nears 600,000 bitcoin as the “Strategy of Asia” also buys

Benchmark initiated coverage on Metaplanet as the former hotel business is becoming “Japan’s pioneering listed bitcoin treasury company.”

It’s Monday, so it’s bitcoin-buying day for Strategy, which has acquired 4,980 bitcoin for $531.9 million. The largest corporate bitcoin holder now has 597,325 bitcoin. 

Metaplanet, the “Strategy of Asia,” which became the seventh-largest corporate bitcoin holder, also added to its reserve, acquiring 1,005 bitcoin for $108.1 million, giving it a total of 13,350.

The company also announced the issuance of 0% interest rate ordinary bonds worth 30 billion yen ($208 million) to boost its bitcoin acquisition strategy.

Benchmark Equity Research initiated coverage of the Japanese company this morning with a “buy” rating, as it “emerges as Japan’s answer to MSTR with bitcoin acquisition strategy. In just over a year, the company has transformed itself from a modest hotel business into Japans pioneering listed bitcoin treasury company,” Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer wrote in the note.

Palmer added that Mataplanet “has been the best performing stock in Japan by 10x, generating a total return of 7,742% during that span.”

“We believe the shares are poised to continue their upward climb as Metaplanet continues to execute its financing strategy and adds to its bitcoin holdings,” he wrote.

The company, which said it seeks to accumulate 100,000 bitcoin by the end of 2026 and 210,000 bitcoin by the end of 2027, is emulating Strategy, but with “a twist.”

“Metaplanet has been generating the bulk of its revenue through option premium harvesting: selling cash-secured bitcoin put options and collecting premiums while committing to buy bitcoin at a predetermined strike if the market declines,” Palmer added.

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Solana drops to price not seen since February as Drift exploit rattles sentiment

Solana has historically seen its largest price declines on Thursdays, and today is no exemption as the crypto industry reels from the over $270 million exploit that occurred yesterday on Drift, a trading venue native to the solana blockchain.

The price of solana has decreased 5.5% to around $78, a level not seen since February, data from CoinGecko shows.

Drift was one of the largest protocols on the solana network by total value locked, which now sits at nearly $245 million. The total value locked on solana has shrunk by nearly $1 billion since the incident, per DefiLlama.

Exploit likely involved from social engineering

The attack, which has turned into a wider contagion event, is unsettling for those in the industry. It did not come from a bug in the protocol’s smart contracts or programs. Humans remain the bottleneck, Mert Mumtaz, cofounder and CEO of solana development firm Helius, said in response to the incident.

The exploit involved unauthorized transaction approvals likely facilitated through social engineering. The sophisticated operation “appears to have involved multi-week preparation and staged execution,” the team said on Thursday. 

Omer Goldberg, founder of risk management firm Chaos Labs, added, The DeFi [decentralized finance] ecosystem continues to grow in scale, but not in operational security.

“Protocols now have custody of hundreds of millions in user funds while depending on admin key setups that would be considered unacceptable in TradFi for a fraction of that AUM [assets under management],” Goldberg wrote on X. 

“Most hacks come down to the simple act of one clicking a link they shouldn’t have clicked. These are picking up in pace, be extra cautious clicking any link or file,” continued Helius Mumtaz.

$270M

April 1 is known as a day for funny pranks. However, a popular trading venue on the solana blockchain, Drift, is suffering from an ongoing exploit today, on-chain data shows.

Drift Protocol is experiencing an active attack. Deposits and withdrawals have been suspended. We are coordinating with multiple security firms, bridges, and exchanges to contain the incident. This is not an April Fools joke,” the team said on social media at 2:58 p.m. ET.

TheBlock reported the exploit is at least $200 million, while blockchain sleuth Lookonchain estimates the figure is $270 million. It could be even more. At this range, the Wednesday hack is among the largest ever, according to the exploits ranking dashboard from Rekt.

Drifts exploit is concerning for those within the crypto industry. Solana treasury firm DeFi Development Corp. allocates a portion of its balance to on-chain strategies to generate yield, including Drift, though the firm announced it had no exposure to the protocol and was not impacted by an alleged exploit affecting the platform, per its press release.

Drift also provides to qualified users sACRED, a derivative token of a tokenized feeder fund that is linked to Apollo Global Management Inc.s traditional Diversified Credit Fund.

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