Japanese Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet has launched a new venture capital arm, Metaplanet Ventures, to fund startups building Bitcoin financial infrastructure in Japan.
The company said Metaplanet Ventures K.K. will invest in, incubate and support businesses developing regulated Bitcoin infrastructure as the country considers recognising Bitcoin as a regulated financial asset within the next two years.
Metaplanet said the new venture firm will focus on supporting projects in payments, lending and Lightning Network infrastructure while also backing startups working on stablecoins, custody and tokenisation technologies.
The venture arm will operate through investment, incubation and grant programmes aimed at supporting both early-stage startups and open-source developers within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Metaplanet expects to allocate about 4 billion Japanese yen, or roughly $25.2 million, to the initiative over the next two to three years using revenue generated from its Bitcoin-related business activities.
Despite expanding into startup investment, the company said accumulating Bitcoin remains its primary strategy.
Metaplanet currently holds about 35,102 Bitcoin worth roughly $2.44 billion and aims to accumulate 210,000 Bitcoin by the end of 2027.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $69,437.34.