Asset manager VanEck has ranked Tokyo-listed Metaplanet Inc. as the worst performer for executive compensation among the ten largest Digital Asset Treasury companies, labeling its structure 'Bad.' Despite recent board actions by Metaplanet to freeze its automatic 'Evergreen' mechanism and cut its Series 10 option pool by 41%, VanEck argues the measures fall short. Metaplanet's 14.7% option pool and 8.2% officer exposure remain massive outliers, sitting at 3.7 times and 10.4 times the peer averages.
VanEck executive compensation ranking
- ▪VanEck's executive compensation scorecard, authored by Matthew Sigel and dated September 18, 2026, evaluated the ten largest Digital Asset Treasury companies on plan pool size, named officer exposure, automatic pool growth, and performance hurdles
- ▪VanEck proposed four structural changes for Metaplanet Inc., including canceling approximately 273 million shares added via Metaplanet Inc.'s Series 10 adjustment mechanism and replacing the remaining Series 10 stock acquisition rights with a smaller, shareholder-approved plan
- ▪VanEck recommended that Metaplanet Inc. tie executive compensation to a shareholder-aligned metric like Bitcoin per fully diluted share and adopt a written equity-grant timing policy.
- ▪VanEck ranked Tokyo-listed Metaplanet Inc. as the only company in the "Bad" band for executive compensation among the ten largest Digital Asset Treasury companies in VanEck's Mid-September 2026 Bitcoin ChainCheck report
Metaplanet Series 10 rights
- ▪VanEck estimated that prior to recent reductions, Metaplanet Inc.'s management dilution could have absorbed roughly 20% of the economic value created through Bitcoin purchases, leaving shareholders with 80%.
- ▪Metaplanet Inc.'s Series 10 stock acquisition rights formula allowed the company's executive option pool to expand automatically from 46 million shares to 319.5 million shares as the company issued equity to fund Bitcoin purchases
- ▪Metaplanet Inc.'s Series 10 stock acquisition rights, approved at a February 2023 extraordinary general meeting, originated as a discounted executive option pool priced at ¥10 per share to protect executive compensation from dilution.
Digital asset treasury governance
- ▪VanEck expressed an underweight stance on the Digital Asset Treasury sector as a whole, stating a preference for spot Exchange-Traded Fund exposure due to leverage, related-party risk, and insider compensation.
- ▪A September 15, 2026 large-shareholding filing revealed that Capital Research and Management Company reduced its stake in Metaplanet Inc. below 10% to 9.76% as of September 8, 2026.
- ▪Metaplanet Inc. holds 43,000 Bitcoin worth approximately $3.5 billion, making it the largest listed corporate holder of Bitcoin in Asia and the third-largest publicly traded corporate holder globally.
- ▪Metaplanet Inc.'s stock closed at ¥243 on September 18, 2026, down approximately 25% from its September 1 close of ¥326, following a material selloff compressed into the first week of September.
Board dilution reduction actions
- ▪Metaplanet Inc. CEO Simon Gerovich stated that the September 11, 2026 conversion ratio rollback extinguished more than $220 million in warrant value and boosted Bitcoin per fully diluted share by approximately 8.8%.
- ▪Despite Metaplanet Inc.'s September 11, 2026 rollback of its Series 10 conversion ratio from 696 to 410 shares per unit, 82.8 million shares had already been issued to insiders, leaving 105.4 million potential new shares representing roughly 7% of Metaplanet Inc.
- ▪On August 18, 2026, Metaplanet Inc. repealed its automatic evergreen adjustment clause, froze the option pool at its enlarged size, and extended a lock-up on exercised shares to August 17, 2031.
- ▪On September 11, 2026, Metaplanet Inc. rolled back its Series 10 conversion ratio from 696 to 410 shares per right, cutting the potential Series 10 share pool by 41.1% from 319.464 million to 188.190 million shares
Officer exposure peer comparison
- ▪Metaplanet Inc.'s officer exposure of 8.2% is roughly 10.4 times the 0.8% average of its peers, with the next-worst peer, Twenty One Capital, sitting at 2.3% officer exposure.
- ▪Metaplanet Inc.'s largest individual officer position of 3.8% is 5.9 times the peer average of 0.6%, compared to the next-worst peer, Twenty One Capital, whose largest single officer holds 1.9%.
- ▪VanEck rated Strategy, BitMine, Hyperliquid Strategies, Sharplink, Tron, and Bit Digital as "Good" due to fixed pools, shareholder approval requirements, and officer exposure of 1% or less.
- ▪Metaplanet Inc.'s 14.7% option pool is 3.7 times the 4.0% peer average of the nine other Digital Asset Treasury companies analyzed by VanEck, including Strategy, BitMine, Hyperliquid Strategies, Sharplink, Tron, Bit Digital, Twenty One Capital, Strive, and Forward Industries
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