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The purchase did little to buoy sentiment for bitcoin, which recorded its first seven-day loss since early November.
By James Van Straten, Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Sheldon Reback
Dec 23, 2024, 12:40 p.m. UTC
What to know:
- XRP fell 3% in the past 24 hours, leading declines among major tokens as bitcoin (BTC) started the festive week in the red.
- Tokyo-listed Metaplanet bought a record 619.70 BTC in a move that bumped its BTC holdings by 54%.
- Market watchers are cautious ahead of the holiday period, with a short-term bearish bias.
XRP dropped 3% in the past 24 hours, leading losses among major tokens as bitcoin (BTC) started the festive week in the red and Japanese bitcoin accumulator Metaplanet (3350) announced its biggest purchase.
Story continues below
The Tokyo-listed company said it bought a record 619.70 BTC for 9.5 billion yen ($61 million) in a move that lifted its BTC holdings by 54%.
BTC is still 1.5% lower over 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows, with ether (ETH), Cardano’s ADA, Solana’s SOL and dogecoin (DOGE) all down as much as 2%. Chainlink’s LINK and Tron’s TRX gained, while the broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index fell 1.39%.
Metaplanet has now acquired 1,762 BTC for 20.87 billion yen ($133.2 million), with an average purchase price of 11.85 million yen. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 23, the company achieved a BTC yield of 309.82%, up from the 41.7% for Jul. 1-Sep. 30.
Metaplanet experimented with novel ways of funding its bitcoin buys since it first started the strategy in April. As of Dec. 20, the company issued a $5.0 billion yen 5th Series of Ordinary Bonds to EVO FUND, a zero-coupon bond maturing June 16, 2025 with early redemption possible linked to the 12th series stock acquisition rights.
In total, the company has made 19 separate bitcoin purchases using capital market activities and operating income. The shares have skyrocketed 2,100% this year, and the company has become the 15th-largest publicly traded bitcoin holder.
Meanwhile, market watchers are cautious ahead of the holiday period with a short-term bearish bias.
“Markets continue to digest the Fed’s tougher tone, reinforced by the accumulated urge to lock in profits after a strong year,” Alex Kuptsikevich, FxPro chief market analyst, told CoinDesk in an email. “Bitcoin is trading around $95.5K, receiving support near the 50-day moving average on Friday and Monday. While we expected to see the market decline here, it’s too early to say this is the end of the correction.”
“Further declines in the stock market, of which there are many in Bitcoin and Ethereum, could trigger institutional investors, launching a deeper pullback. Reduced holiday liquidity has the potential to amplify this amplitude with a potential dip into the $70K area,” Kuptsikevich said, adding that the $90,000 level could present an “attractive level” for buyers to stop the sell-off.
As the senior analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and the macro environment. Previously, working as a research analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, introduced to on-chain analytics. James specializes in daily monitoring of ETFs, spot, futures volumes, and flows to understand how Bitcoin interacts within the financial system. James holds more than $1,000 worth of bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Semler Scientific (SMLR).
Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.
Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM,
BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.
He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.
