Vanguard has bought shares in @Metaplanet, Japan's biggest $BTC treasury firm. The purchase was made through the asset manager's small-cap ETF, giving the fund indirect exposure to Bitcoin th
Vanguard has bought shares in @Metaplanet, Japan's biggest $BTC treasury firm. The purchase was made through the asset manager's small-cap ETF, giving the fund indirect exposure to Bitcoin through an equity holding.
According to Bitcoin Treasuries, Vanguard's small-cap ETF, VSS, bought about 4.5 million shares of the company, worth about $7.5 million. This marks the first time Vanguard's VSS has held Metaplanet shares.
VSS is the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF. It seeks to track the FTSE Global Small Cap ex US Index, which includes approximately 3,300 stocks of companies located in more than 46 countries.The fund is passively managed, using index sampling. That structure suggests the position reflects index inclusion rather than a discretionary view on Bitcoin, although the reports do not state the reason for the purchase.
Metaplanet is listed in Tokyo under the ticker 3350.T. It holds Bitcoin as a core treasury asset and is pursuing a strategy of steadily increasing its holdings.Its stock closed 0.75% lower at 263 JPY on Monday, so the news did not lift the share price.
The new VSS position adds to existing Vanguard holdings in the company. Earlier this year, the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund increased its position in Metaplanet to 15.64 million shares valued at $53.5 million.Last year, the Vanguard FTSE Japan ETF also disclosed its first purchase of Metaplanet shares, acquiring 704,500 shares valued at about $2.1 million.
Taken together, the filings show Vanguard building indirect Bitcoin exposure across several funds that hold Bitcoin treasury stocks, without offering Bitcoin products directly. At about $7.5 million, the VSS stake is small relative to the size of the fund and the asset manager, but it adds another Vanguard vehicle to Metaplanet's shareholder base.
Investors tracking institutional flows into $BTC-linked equities will likely watch whether other Vanguard index funds report similar positions in future disclosures.
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