Corporate Bitcoin Buying Plunges to About 5,900 BTC in Past Three Months, Glassnode Says

Metaplanet announced on October 5 that it acquired a net 1,000 BTC between July and September, the third quarter of its fiscal year ending December 2026, bringing its holdings to 44,000 BTC. According to BitcoinTreasuries, which tracks corporate Bitcoin holdings, the company is now the world's second-largest listed corporate holder after US-based Strategy. Strategy resumed its weekly purchases, adding 334 BTC worth about 24 million dollars, and Bitcoin rebounded to 86,970 dollars on Monday. Metaplanet sees popularizing Bitcoin among gamers as a new business opportunity through its US Bitcoin operations, according to a letter to shareholders dated October 6 from Matthew Edelman, CEO of the US gaming and advertising company Super League Enterprise, which Metaplanet plans to acquire. Meanwhile, Bitmine said it will stop adding to its Ethereum holdings once they reach 5% of total supply, and Ethereum fell 5% on Wednesday to 2,553 dollars. The company holds about 6.02 million ETH, worth roughly 15.46 billion dollars, equivalent to 4.927% of Ethereum's supply. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said on October 5 that Japan's crypto asset economy was worth 228.3 billion dollars, or about 36.5 trillion yen, from July 2025 to June 2026, ranking second in East Asia after South Korea's 449.1 billion dollars, or about 71.9 trillion yen.

Crypto analysts told Nikkei that bitcoin purchases by ETFs and corporations are creating unprecedented structural spot demand. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose from the 4.7% range to the 5.2% range in September and currently sits at a high level around 5.3%, yet bitcoin, which generates no yield, actually rose. Since late August, inflows into U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have stood out, with more than 1 billion dollars flowing in on September 21 alone; Strategy bought 334 BTC between October 1 and 4, Metaplanet bought 1,000 BTC in the July-to-September quarter, and Strive bought 2,000 BTC by the 2nd. According to CryptoQuant data, open interest, which swelled to about 29 billion dollars in late September, has since shrunk roughly 12% to about 25.5 billion dollars, while bitcoin has held in the mid-80,000 dollar range, indicating that spot supply and demand are improving as excess positions in the derivatives market are unwound. The unauthorized outflow from Bitget discovered on September 25 amounted to 380 million dollars in losses, but the spillover to the broader market was limited. Looking toward year-end, analysts see a projected range of 88,000 to 100,000 dollars, and say that if net inflows of more than 500 million dollars per week continue, the scenario of aiming for 100,000 dollars becomes more likely.

Strive purchased 2,000 bitcoin for approximately $169 million, nearly six times the 334 bitcoin that Strategy announced buying the previous day, bringing Strive's total holdings to 29,462 bitcoin at an average price of $84,422 per coin. CEO Matt Cole said SETA preferred stock sales accounted for 61.5% of the capital raised, with warrant exercises generating another $56.7 million, and Strive now carries roughly $1.29 billion of SETA preferred stock with about $168 million in annual dividend obligations. Separately, the SEC approved the CBOE's request to list the first US products delivering three times the daily returns of bitcoin and ether, to be operated by Volatility Shares using regulated bitcoin and ether futures rather than the tokens themselves, doubling the previous 2X cap on US crypto funds. The CFTC also floated a new federal framework for leveraged retail crypto trading, proposing a crypto asset market registration category with token listing standards, market surveillance and anti-manipulation rules, proof of reserves for pooled customer assets, capital requirements, segregation of customer assets, risk disclosures, and KYC and anti-money laundering controls, while stating it cannot require crypto to trade on its platforms without Congress. Treasury withdrew a 2020 self-hosted wallet rule and a 2023 crypto mixer reporting rule, citing concerns over a chilling effect on legitimate activity, and Rain filed an application with the OCC to establish Rain National Trust Bank, following similar moves by Modern Treasury as community banks sue the OCC over federal trust charters for crypto companies. Ondo Finance also launched Ondo private markets with tokenized pre-IPO AI exposure, beginning with an unnamed pre-IPO AI business, offering tokenized notes linked to the company's economic performance rather than actual shares.