Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has added another $129 million to its Bitcoin treasury, pushing its total holdings past the Bitcoin-stacking country of El Salvador. 

“Metaplanet now holds more Bitcoin than El Salvador. From humble beginnings to rivaling nation-states, we’re just getting started,” said CEO Simon Gerovich on X after the latest purchase announcement. 

On May 12, the Tokyo-listed firm announced that it had acquired 1,241 Bitcoin (BTC) for 14.8 million yen ($101,843) per coin.

The total buy, at its highest ever purchase price, is worth around $129 million at current market prices. 

This brings the firm’s total holdings to 6,796 Bitcoin, currently worth around $707 million, and the average purchase price is $91,000 per Bitcoin. Metaplanet started its BTC accumulation strategy in April 2024. 

El Salvador is the sixth-largest nation-state holder of the asset with 6,714 Bitcoin worth around $642 million, according to the National Bitcoin Office.

Source: Simon Gerovich

The Japanese investment firm also reported a Bitcoin Yield, which measures the ratio of percentage change in Bitcoin holdings per fully diluted share, of 38% for the current quarter to date. The firm achieved a BTC Yield of 95.6% during the first quarter of 2025. 

Related: Trump’s US-China trade deal could shed light on Bitcoin’s use case

Metaplanet has been more aggressive in its accumulation of the asset in recent months, with a purchase of 5,555 Bitcoin on May 7, four purchases in April totaling 18,586 BTC, and six purchases in March totaling 18,925 BTC, each buy larger than the previous. 

Metaplanet BTC purchase disclosure. Source: Metaplanet

The firm is the largest holder of Bitcoin in Asia and the tenth largest globally, according to BiTBO. 

Saylor hints at another buy 

Meanwhile, Michael Saylor hinted at another purchase by his firm, Strategy, on May 12, by posting a screenshot of the “Saylor Tracker” chart, which tracks the firm’s Bitcoin treasury portfolio. “Connect the dots,” was the accompanying comment. 

Source: Michael Saylor

Saylor has made similar Monday posts with a cryptic comment many times in the past, which have been followed by a BTC acquisition announcement. 

Strategy currently holds 555,450 BTC worth around $57.8 billion at current prices, according to the tracker. 

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Bitcoin’s potential price reaction to a trade deal between the United States and China could give insights into whether Bitcoin is being used as a safe-haven asset in the current market.

Bitcoin (BTC) outperformed stocks and held up “incredibly strong” during a sharp sell-off on stock markets in April, following Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on “Liberation Day,” observed crypto trader “Daan Crypto” on May 11.

Following its plunge to $75,000 on April 7, Bitcoin recovered strongly to trade 27% higher at around $95,000 by the end of the month. Meanwhile, indexes like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined in April. 

At the time, people wondered if Bitcoin’s relative strength came from the narrative that countries were using Bitcoin to bypass tariffs. The analyst said the opposite should theoretically occur if the trade deal is confirmed.

“Theoretically speaking, if the trade uncertainty was what was making BTC outperform, it should stop outperforming after we hit the most important deal, which includes China.”

Bitcoin performance since Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement. Source: Daan Crypto

On May 11, the White House announced that talks between the US and China regarding a trade deal have made “substantial progress.” However, no official agreement had been announced.

Related: Bitcoin must close the week above this level to start ‘price discovery 2’

“We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

However, if Bitcoin keeps doing its thing and outperforming, “it’s safe to assume that tariffs likely have little direct impact on how BTC is treated or used,” Daan concluded. 

Markets await trade deal announcement 

Some analysts, however, believe that Bitcoin will likely jump if a trade deal comes through, along with potential rate cuts.

“We believe that institutional investors are less apprehensive about investing in Bitcoin and crypto as US-China trade talks come to a conclusion and the likelihood of rate cuts increases,” Jeff Mei, chief operations officer at BTSE, told Cointelegraph. 

Meanwhile, Jupiter Zheng, researcher at HashKey Capital, said, “A US-China trade deal could signal stability in global markets, potentially driving investors to seek growth opportunities and send capital into alternative assets.”

“Bitcoin could also see new highs as a result, particularly if the deal weakens the dollar or leads to renewed liquidity flows into emerging markets.”

Analyst Will Clemente said on X that only a solid announcement of a trade deal is likely to keep momentum rolling. 

“Feels like you’re gonna need a real, tangible announcement on the China front to keep things moving here locally, momentum starting to stall out on BTC for the first time in a bit,” he said.  

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Censorship-resistant “dark stablecoins” could come in increasing demand as governments tighten their oversight of the industry. 

Stablecoins have been used for various groups to store assets due to a lack of government interference; however, with regulations pending, that could soon change, Ki Young Ju, CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, said in a May 11 X post.

“Soon, any stablecoin issued by a country could face strict govt regulation, similar to traditional banks. Transfers might automatically trigger tax collection through smart contracts, and wallets could be frozen or require paperwork based on government rules,” he said.

“People who used stablecoins for big international transfers might start looking for censorship-resistant dark stablecoins instead.”

On the heels of US President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration assuming power earlier this year, lawmakers are weighing stablecoin legislation, which seeks to regulate US stablecoins, ensuring their legal use for payments. 

The European Union has already brought in its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which, among other measures, mandates that stablecoins be regulated and transparent.

Source: Ki Young Ju

Ju speculates that a dark or private stablecoin could be created as an algorithmic stablecoin, with the value maintained through algorithmic mechanisms rather than being pegged to an external asset like gold, which makes it susceptible to interference from authorities. 

“One possible example could be a decentralized stablecoin that follows the price of regulated coins like USDC using data oracles like Chainlink,” he said.

Another way would be stablecoins issued by countries that don’t censor financial transactions, or, for example, if Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations in the future.

“USDT itself used to be considered a censorship-resistant stablecoin. If Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations under a future Trump administration, it could become a dark stablecoin in an increasingly censored internet economy,” Ju said.

Privacy technology in crypto is already being used

Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) — while they aren’t stablecoins —already shield transactions and allow users to send and receive funds without revealing their transaction data on the blockchain.

Related: Russia finance ministry official floats country making own stablecoins: Report

Several projects are also working on using similar technology for stablecoins, such as Zephyr Protocol, a Monero fork that hides transactions from being revealed on the blockchain. PARScoin also hides user identities, transaction values, and links to past transactions.

The market cap of US dollar-denominated stablecoins has continued to grow, crossing $230 billion in April, a report from investment banking giant Citigroup found. That’s an increase of 54% since last year, with Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC) dominating 90% of the market.

Meanwhile, total stablecoin volumes hit $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. 

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