The eagerly anticipated question is whether Strategy (MSTR) plans to introduce a perpetual preferred equity, referred to as “digital credit,” in Japan.
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich posed this query directly to executive chairman Michael Saylor at the bitcoin MENA conference.
Saylor responded with, “not in the next twelve months, I will give you a twelve month head start.”
Gerovich raised the matter as Metaplanet aims to launch its own digital credit products in Japan’s relatively “sleepy” perpetual preferred market.
Currently, Japan has only five listed perpetual preferred equities, with All Nippon Airways (ANA) becoming the fifth, as stated by Gerovich. Metaplanet seeks to introduce two new instruments, “Mercury” and “Mars,” making it the sixth and seventh.
Gerovich described Mercury as Metaplanet’s answer to Strategy’s STRK, offering a 4.9% yield in yen and including convertibility. He noted that this is in stark contrast to Japanese bank deposits and money market funds, which yield almost nothing, around 50bps, emphasizing that Mercury offers about ten times that amount. Mercury is currently in its pre-IPO phase, and Gerovich hopes for a launch by early 2026.
The second instrument, Mars, is intended to mimic Strategy’s STRC, a short-duration high-yield credit product.
This discussion comes at a time when Strategy has expanded its own perpetual preferred offerings. The company now boasts four perpetual preferreds in the United States and has recently launched its first in a foreign market: Stream (STRM), a euro-denominated preferred.
Gerovich highlighted the fact that Japan prohibits at-market share sales (ATM), which Strategy employs for both its common stock and perpetual preferreds. Instead, Metaplanet plans to utilize a similar mechanism known as a moving strike warrant (MSW) for its perpetual preferred offerings.
The two leaders also had differing opinions on how many bitcoin treasury companies should issue what Saylor terms digital credit. Saylor advocated for widespread participation, referencing Strive’s (SATA) instrument and suggesting the expectation of about a dozen issuers.
Conversely, Gerovich argued that the focus should be on the strength of the balance sheet rather than the quantity of issuers. He added that Metaplanet is primarily looking to issue credit in Japan and possibly across Asia, but not in other markets for the time being.
