Metaplanet's Q1 financial report landed this week: holding 40,177 BTC, surpassing MARA to become the third-largest publicly listed company in the world holding BTC, behind Strategy (762,099 BTC) and Twenty One Capital (43,514 BTC).

The ranking looks good, but there's one line almost no one mentions: the average total holding price is $104,106.
Currently, BTC is approximately $80,000, down −23%, with an unrealized paper loss of about $970 million.
Q1 single-quarter accounting loss is $725 million, of which $737 million is a BTC valuation write-down (non-cash); operating profit, however, increased by 283% year-over-year.
Behind the "fake loss" in accounting is a real paper unrealized loss of $970 million.
Control group: Strategy's average price is $75,540, currently slightly profitable; MARA sold 20,880 BTC in Q1 to cash out $1.5 billion and switch to AI; Metaplanet is still buying, aiming for 100k BTC by the end of the year and 210k BTC by 2027—remaining gap about 60k BTC, which at current prices requires roughly $4.8 billion.
The logic behind Strategy's 2020 position was a risk premium for potential company bankruptcy, which resulted in a position at a price far below the current market price.
Metaplanet in 2024 took over, bearing the same strategic risk, with an initial average price of $104k—latecomers are not copying the model but paying the risk premium for the pioneers.
When the day comes that the third-place title appears, it’s usually also the day when the excess returns of the pioneers have been fully priced in. #Gate广场五月交易分享 $BTC