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Metaplanet Adds 2,823 Bitcoin, Reaches 43,000 BTC And Becomes World’s Third-Largest Corporate Treasury

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Metaplanet Adds 2,823 Bitcoin, Reaches 43,000 BTC And Becomes World’s Third-Largest Corporate Treasury

Metaplanet crossed the 43,000 BTC threshold on July 2, a milestone that places the Tokyo-listed firm as the world’s third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The company now trails Strategy and Twenty One Capital across the global corporate ranking, and its climb underscores Japan’s role in the corporate Bitcoin accumulation race.

Metaplanet acquired an additional 2,823 BTC during the second quarter of 2026, a purchase worth about $170.7 million. The buy brought total holdings to 43,000 BTC, valued near $2.6 billion. Shares of the company (ticker 3350) closed 3.5% higher at 207 yen ($1.28) on Thursday following the announcement.

The average acquisition price for the quarter landed at roughly 12.71 million yen (about $80,000) per Bitcoin, according to the company. The effective purchase price fell to around 12.09 million yen (about $77,000) once income from the firm’s Bitcoin Income Generation business is counted. 

That segment produced approximately 1.75 billion yen ($10.85 million) in operating revenue for the quarter, lifting first-half revenue to about 4.72 billion yen. On a trailing 12-month basis, the division’s revenue reached about 11.4 billion yen.

Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin investment now stands at approximately 659.25 billion yen (about $4.2 billion), with holdings valued near 409 billion yen (about $2.6 billion) as of June 30. The overall average cost basis sits at 15.33 million yen (about $102,500) per BTC.

The company reported a BTC Yield of 6.6% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, a metric that tracks growth in Bitcoin per share. That figure remains a core indicator for corporate treasury strategies of this type.

The corporate Bitcoin leaderboard is now well defined. Strategy, the former MicroStrategy, leads with holdings above 847,000 BTC. Twenty One Capital holds second place. Metaplanet takes third, a position that puts it ahead of other large players such as MARA Holdings, according to data tracked by Bitcoin Treasuries.

Michael Saylor marked the occasion on X, tweeting, “Congrats to Metaplanet on reaching ₿43,000 and becoming the #3 corporate Bitcoin treasury in the world. You are proving that the Bitcoin treasury strategy is global.”

The strategy behind Metaplanet

Metaplanet has scaled at speed since it adopted the treasury model in 2024. CEO Simon Gerovich has drawn on equity offerings, debt instruments, and options strategies to build the position, an approach designed to limit the shareholder dilution that comes with large corporate purchases. The Bitcoin Income Generation business uses Bitcoin options to create recurring cash flow while the company expands its holdings.

The balance sheet leaves room to grow. Total debt and preferred stock represent about 23% of the net asset value of the firm’s Bitcoin, a cushion that gives Metaplanet capacity to keep buying.

The dual model, one part aggressive accumulation and one part recurring income, cements Japan as a rising force in the corporate push to hold Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

US Senator Calls for Ban on Elected Officials Issuing Memecoins

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US Senator Calls for Ban on Elected Officials Issuing Memecoins

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the US lawmakers behind negotiations for a digital asset market structure bill in Congress, has proposed barring elected officials and the president from issuing or sponsoring their own tokens, citing President Donald Trump’s and First Lady Melania Trump’s memecoins.

In a Friday notice, Gillibrand said that Congress should support measures barring elected officials and their spouses from “issuing or sponsoring their own digital assets.” The New York lawmaker said that the proposed restriction would include any US president and their spouse, but did not specifically mention extending the provision to the office of the vice president or other members of their families. 

“This is a commonsense requirement that should get broad bipartisan support – public officials and their spouses should not be issuing memecoins,” said Gillibrand. “We cannot let self-dealing destroy an opportunity to strengthen consumer protections, crack down on illicit finance, and expand economic opportunity for the millions of Americans our financial system has left behind.”

Source: Kirsten Gillibrand

Gillibrand is one of the lawmakers behind negotiations regarding the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act in the Senate, legislation which has faced delays due to concerns about ethics, tokenization and stablecoin rewards. Although she expected the chamber to vote on the bill by the Senate’s August state work period, she added that no one would vote for the bill without addressing ethics, citing the potential of elected officials “[getting] rich off of these industries because of their insider status.”

Related: Senate Dems urge probe into $500M crypto deal between Trumps, UAE 

During consideration of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) in 2025, the New York lawmaker said senators had removed provisions specifically targeting Trump’s ties to the crypto industry, including his memecoin Official Trump (TRUMP). 

She said at the time that the memecoin was likely “illegal based on current law,” but addressing all of Trump’s ethics problems would make for a “very long and detailed bill.” Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July 2025.

Notably, Gillibrand’s proposed memecoin restriction did not appear to extend to other family members. In addition to his personal investments in the crypto industry, Trump has faced criticism over his sons’ involvement in the crypto platform World Liberty Financial and their Bitcoin (BTC) mining company American Bitcoin.

Trump brushes off conflicts of interest concerns with crypto industry

This week, Trump reported that he earned about $1.4 billion from crypto ventures the same year he took office. The financial windfall occurred while he was in a position to influence legislation on digital assets, including the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act.

According to Trump, there was “nothing illegal” and “nothing wrong” with profiting from his investments as president, while he did not directly answer questions about perceived conflicts of interest.

Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

SOL Tops $83 As Solana Network Activity Surges

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SOL Tops $83 As Solana Network Activity Surges

Key takeaways:

  • Solana’s tokenized assets and memecoin revival drove SOL to a 30-day high at $83.
  • Bullish leveraged appetite cooled sharply, suggesting traders are hesitant to bet on further gains to $90.

Solana’s SOL token jumped to its highest mark in over 30 days on Friday at $83, marking a decoupling from the altcoin market. SOL’s rally gained steam from a surge in tokenized trading volume on Solana, inflows of stablecoin liquidity, and an unexpected comeback in memecoin activity. Can SOL reclaim the $90 level?

Total altcoin market capitalization, USD (left) vs. SOL/USD (right). Source: TradingView

SOL’s bullish momentum ignited on June 23, coinciding with cumulative tokenized stock transfers on Solana surpassing $10 billion. The launch of SpaceX shares trading by Backpack propelled Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) utilization. In contrast, the broader altcoin market extended its downtrend, hitting the lowest level since December 2023.

30-day tokenized assets net flows ex-stablecoins, USD. Source: RWA.xyz

Tokenized assets on the Solana network surged to a record-high $3.5 billion on Wednesday, up from $2.7 billion one month prior. The recent boost came from corporate credit tokens and stock market indexes, such as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100. According to RWA.xyz data, Solana leads with 294,274 active addresses in the tokenized industry, followed by Ethereum with 204,955.

Memecoins, prediction markets surge may push SOL toward $90

The airdrop of The Black Bull (ANSEM) memecoin on Sunday re-ignited interest in the sector. The token, launched on Pump.fun, reached a $60 million market capitalization on Tuesday. The anonymous developer directed some 65% of the supply to the crypto influencer Ansem’s public wallet. The distribution lacked transparency, but involved 74,000 addresses over the initial 3 days.

Top 7-day performances of Solana tokens. Source: CoinRanking

Multiple memecoins on Solana surged on the back of the memecoin airdrop, but the biggest winner was the Pump.fun platform token (PUMP). The 27% weekly gains were enough to send PUMP back into the top-100 crypto rankings, with a $630 million market capitalization. ANSEM memecoin extended its gains on Friday, reaching an all-time high market capitalization of $112 million.

The launch of World prediction markets integrated on Phantom wallet has created expectations for increased Solana activity. The project gathered nearly $890,000 in total value locked in two days and aims to compete with the extremely successful Polymarket amid the World Cup betting frenzy. Jupiter has also unveiled its prediction markets under beta test on June 29.

Related: US dominates Polymarket political bets despite geoblock–Report

SOL perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: Laevitas

The appetite for bullish leveraged positions has vastly declined since Wednesday, when SOL’s price crossed above $75 for the first time in 30 days. SOL futures annualized funding rate dropped to 3% on Friday from an 11% peak two days prior. Under neutral conditions, the indicator should range from 6% to 12% to offset the capital cost.

Investors are not comfortable betting on a SOL rally to $90 merely on the back of a temporary memecoin demand surge. Unless there is sustainable demand for blockchain activity, there are no apparent drivers for SOL to further widen its performance gap relative to the remaining altcoins.

SEC Opens 60-Day Comment Period on ‘Novel’ ETF Rules as Prediction Market Funds Pile Up

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SEC Opens 60-Day Comment Period on ‘Novel’ ETF Rules as Prediction Market Funds Pile Up

The SEC published a formal request for comment on ‘Novel ETFs’ covering crypto-asset and prediction-market funds, following Chair Paul Atkins’ May statement pausing launches for over two dozen pending applications.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a formal review of how it regulates “Novel ETFs,” a category covering crypto-asset funds and products tied to prediction markets, publishing a request for comment as release 33-11426.

The filing seeks comment on ways to facilitate innovation in the ETF space while protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation, according to the SEC’s filing. The filing notes that the ETF market has grown significantly since the Commission adopted Rule 6c-11 in 2019 — the exemption that lets most ETFs launch without a bespoke exemptive order — a rule the agency credits with fostering greater competition, innovation and investor choice in the ETF space. Comments are due within 60 days of Federal Register publication.

The review follows a May 20 statement from SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who said fund sponsors had voluntarily delayed the launch of “a number of novel ETFs, including event contract ETFs” while the agency weighed the implications. Atkins said ETF assets had tripled since 2019 and that he had “instructed the staff to seek input from the public on how the Commission should respond to recent market changes.”

Prediction-market ETF applications tied to events like elections and interest-rate decisions have been stuck in the SEC queue since earlier this year, Bloomberg reported, as the agency weighs whether the standard review timeline is adequate for a wave of structurally similar filings.

The pileup coincides with a surge in prediction-market trading volume onchain. Kalshi and Polymarket have expanded rapidly in 2026, with Kalshi closing a $1 billion raise in May at a $22 billion valuation before reportedly seeking a $40 billion mark weeks later. The Defiant has previously covered Kalshi’s push into crypto perpetual futures and broader asset classes following its own $5.5 billion crypto product launch.

Public comments on release 33-11426 can be submitted through the SEC’s comment portal once the 60-day window opens following Federal Register publication, expected in the coming days.

FBI Director Patel Omitted Strategy (MSTR) Stake

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FBI Director Patel Omitted Strategy (MSTR) Stake

FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed a six-figure investment in Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, more than six months past the deadline set by federal ethics law, according to a report from NOTUS. The lapse has reopened a fight over stock trading by senior government officials and raised questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Patel purchased between $100,001 and $250,000 in shares of Strategy on November 21, 2025. He did not report the trade to federal regulators until May 26, 2026, a gap of more than 180 days. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requires senior executive-branch officials to disclose individual stock trades over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction.

In his May 26 letter to the Office of Government Ethics, Patel said the trade had been “inadvertently omitted” from a prior filing. Two days later, Deputy Assistant Attorney General William Taylor attributed the omission to a miscommunication, and an FBI official told NOTUS the late reporting was “not realized and unintentional.” 

First-time STOCK Act violators face a $200 fine. The Department of Justice, which would issue or waive the penalty, has not fined Patel. The bureau said the corrected filing was reviewed and approved by a DOJ ethics official.

Why Patel’s stock omission is drawing attention

Strategy, the firm led by Michael Saylor, pioneered the corporate Bitcoin-treasury model and holds more than 760,000 BTC. The stock functions as a proxy for the price of Bitcoin, which makes it one of the most direct routes to a Bitcoin bet through a brokerage account. Strategy’s shares have lost about half their value since the date of Patel’s purchase.

The identity of the company is the crux of the concern. The FBI, under Patel, plays a central role in cryptocurrency enforcement, and Patel has promoted that record.

In a June 19 post on X, he warned crypto fraudsters that “this FBI will find you, and we will bring you to justice.” Weeks before his purchase, he had touted a case that seized roughly $15 billion 

Strategy has done millions of dollars in business with the Justice Department, of which the FBI is a part, along with the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and State, over the past decade, according to the report.

Taylor maintained that Patel’s stake does not create a conflict of interest with his oversight of the bureau.

Patel is not an outlier. Vice President JD Vance disclosed up to $500,000 in Bitcoin, and President Trump and his sons reported more than $1 billion in crypto-related income last year. 

Securitize Tokenizes Its Own NYSE Stock SECZ on Its First Day as a Public Company

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Securitize Tokenizes Its Own NYSE Stock SECZ on Its First Day as a Public Company

Securitize put its own newly listed common stock onchain the same day SECZ began trading on the NYSE, launching tokenized shares on Avalanche and Solana through its regulated platform.

Securitize began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday under the ticker SECZ and simultaneously put its own newly listed common stock onchain, according to a press release the tokenization firm distributed via PR Newswire. Eligible U.S. investors can access tokenized SECZ through Securitize’s own regulated platform starting the same day.

The launch makes Securitize the first newly public company to bring its own stock onchain at the start of its life as a listed issuer, per the release. SECZ is expected to become the world’s largest tokenized stock at launch based on anticipated shareholder participation.

The shares began trading Thursday after Securitize completed its merger with Cantor Equity Partners, the SPAC vehicle that took the company public with roughly $400 million in proceeds. The Defiant previously reported shareholder approval of that deal, which made Securitize the first publicly traded tokenization company.

Tokenized SECZ will launch on Avalanche and Solana, the release states, giving the company a multichain footprint from its first day as a listed issuer. Access requires onboarding, KYC and AML checks, and confirmation of jurisdictional eligibility under U.S. securities law.

“We have long said that public equities are moving onchain, and there is no stronger validation of that belief than tokenizing our own public stock on Day 1,” Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo said in the release. Domingo said tokenized SECZ represents the same common stock trading on the NYSE rather than a separate share class or a synthetic wrapper, and that tokenization changes the form of ownership without altering the underlying legal rights or transfer restrictions attached to the shares.

Securitize is the leader in real-world-asset tokenization by assets under management, with more than $4 billion tokenized as of June 2026 across funds run with asset managers including BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, BNY and Hamilton Lane. The company also holds a memorandum of understanding with the NYSE signed in March to help design transfer-agent and tokenization-agent standards for the exchange’s broader push into tokenized securities.

Domingo framed the self-tokenization as a template beyond Securitize itself. “Bringing SECZ onchain is not just a milestone for Securitize,” he said. “It is a blueprint for public companies that want to use tokenization to create more efficient, transparent and useful ownership experiences for their shareholders.”

Securitize expects tokenized SECZ to build a meaningful onchain shareholder base from day one, with additional functionality expected to develop over time, the release states.

Ether, solana extend gains as short squeeze lifts bitcoin to $62,000

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Ether, solana extend gains as short squeeze lifts bitcoin to $62,000

Ether and solana led crypto higher on Friday as a squeeze on bearish traders pushed bitcoin toward $62,000, capping the market’s first genuinely strong week since mid June.

Bitcoin traded around $61,360, up 2.5% over seven days, per CoinDesk data. Ether rose 4.2% in 24 hours to about $1,702 and is up 9.7% on the week, while solana held near $80 with a weekly gain of 18.6%, the strongest among the majors. XRP added 5.7% over the week to $1.09 and Hyperliquid’s HYPE rose 5.1% on the day.

Traders betting against crypto lost $281 million to liquidations over the past 24 hours, against $159 million in longs, out of $440 million in total forced closures across 95,690 traders, according to Coinglass data.

When shorts are forced to close, they buy back the asset, and that buying pushes prices into the next tranche of shorts, the loop that turns a modest bounce into a squeeze.

The largest single liquidation was an $18.2 million ether position on Hyperliquid, fitting a day when ether led the damage to bears at $157 million in wiped positions against bitcoin’s $103 million in an unusual flip.

Inside the fierce data dispute over whether a sanctioned Russian crypto token is actually working to evade Western blocks

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Inside the fierce data dispute over whether a sanctioned Russian crypto token is actually working to evade Western blocks

“We truly don’t think there is large-scale, authentic usage of A7A5 outside of A7,” Keegan said in an email, referring to the token’s issuer. He added that transaction volumes routinely collapse on weekends because much of the activity appears tied to business-to-business transfers involving the Russia-linked exchange Grinex.

Meanwhile, Tom Robinson, co-founder of another blockchain analytics firm, Elliptic, also said the token has lost momentum. He said that monthly transaction volumes have fallen by more than 90% since January and are down 96% from their peak last year, following sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as the collapse of Grinex earlier this year.

“The cherry-picked trading and transaction figures provided by A7A5 are consistent with Elliptic’s analysis,” Robinson said. “However, they conceal the obvious trend: that A7A5 is failing in its goal of enabling Russian sanctions evasion.”

A7A5’s Ogienko denied these claims and said that because the token’s activity mostly takes place in DeFi, it is not fully captured by major crypto data sites. “These outdated principles and metrics do not provide users around the world with objective information about A7A5,” he told CoinDesk in a statement via Telegram.

He said data providers, including CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko and DeFiLlama rely too heavily on centralized exchange data, creating what he claimed “a generally discriminatory approach, contrary to the principles of the United Nations.”

Bitget Bolsters Stock+ Platform With U.S. Stock Options Trading

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Bitget Bolsters Stock+ Platform With U.S. Stock Options Trading

Crypto exchange Bitget has launched US stock options, allowing users to trade options on US-listed companies. 

The company described itself in a note to Bitcoin Magazine as the world’s largest Universal Exchange and states that it is the only major crypto exchange offering US stock options alongside crypto and contract-for-difference markets in gold, forex, commodities and indices.

The initial release includes long call and long put strategies for eligible users. A call option lets a trader take a bullish position on a stock, while a put option allows a trader to express a bearish view or manage downside exposure. 

Risk for buyers is limited to the premium paid, and an option can expire without value if the expected price movement does not occur.

The launch expands Bitget’s stock product line. 

The company’s earlier products include tokenized stocks and pre-IPO access to private market opportunities. Stock options join the Stock+ offering, which the company positions as a direct-access venue for US equities built for traders familiar with established stock market products and regulated market infrastructure. 

Bitget stated that the addition supports its goal of combining crypto, stocks, commodities and other assets in one trading environment.

Bitget: The U.S. options market is booming

Demand for listed options has reached record levels. The US options market processed more than 15.2 billion contracts in 2025, an average of about 60 million contracts per trading day. The figures reflect wider use of options among retail and institutional participants for directional trading, hedging and capital management.

“We have moved first to connect stock opportunities with our users,” said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget. “From tokenized stocks to now options, we are executing on convergence. Our products provide advanced trading access to stocks, gold, crypto and worldwide assets.”

The first release focuses on single-leg options buying to provide an entry point for users. The company plans additional functionality, including multi-leg strategies, as the Stock+ options product develops.

For the launch, eligible users who complete a first US stock options trade may receive $15 in NVIDIA stock, subject to campaign terms and regional availability.

Bitget said they have more than 125 million users and access to over two million crypto tokens, along with 500-plus tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, foreign exchange and precious metals such as gold. 

The company holds partnerships with MotoGP and UNICEF, the latter to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget states that it leads the tokenized traditional-finance market across 150 regions.

Donald Trump Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ with $1.4B Crypto Windfall While in Office

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Donald Trump Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ with $1.4B Crypto Windfall While in Office

US President Donald Trump has responded to criticism of his 2025 financial disclosures, showing that he earned $1.4 billion in income from crypto-related ventures while in office.

In a Thursday interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen, Trump said that there was “nothing illegal” and “nothing wrong” with profiting from his crypto investments as president. He claimed that other people were responsible for his investments and he didn’t “even know who they are,” not directly answering questions about perceived conflicts of interest as president.

Donald Trump (left) and Joe Kernen (right). Source: CNBC

Trump’s comments followed the release of his 2025 financial disclosure report by the US Office of Government Ethics, showing that he took in more than $2 billion from his businesses and investments, about $1.4 billion of which was connected to crypto projects like his memecoin and family’s platform World Liberty Financial. Many advocacy organizations have characterized the investments as a “grift” allowing the president to influence related legislation like the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act.

Following his first term as US president, Trump called Bitcoin (BTC) a “scam.” However, in the lead-up to the 2024 election, he began cozying up to many high-profile figures in the crypto industry, including Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and executives at mining companies and exchanges. He has since launched his own memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), in addition to his family’s involvement in World Liberty and American Bitcoin.

Related: Donald Trump has 10 days to decide on housing bill with CBDC ban

Of the $1.4 billion tied to crypto, Trump disclosed that his memecoin generated about $636 million, World Liberty sales about $588 million and $197 million from equity in a stablecoin venture.

“Donald is once again pushing the envelope and nobody, nobody is putting the brakes on it,” Mary Trump, the president’s niece, said in a Friday interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “At the end of the day, because of his abuse of the presidential pardon power, a lot of people are likely to get away with a lot of financial crimes that have done real harm to people that have invested in Donald’s businesses because they believed in him and what he was selling.”

Crypto industry bets big on 2026 US elections

After digital asset companies spent a reported $170 million toward supporting whom they considered “pro-crypto” candidates to Congress in 2024, political action committees (PACs) and organizations appear to have adopted the same playbook for 2026.

According to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, companies and figures tied to the crypto industry had contributed $189 million toward this year’s election cycle as of June. The contributions made up the bulk of the $294 million from the crypto, AI, Big Tech and online betting companies spent so far to support or oppose politicians.

Trump’s term ends in January 2029, but all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 in the Senate are up for grabs in the 2026 races.

Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

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