The question everyone has been waiting for is whether Strategy, Inc. (MSTR) will list its perpetual preferred stock, or “digital credit,” in Japan.
This question was posed directly to Executive Chairman Michael Saylor by Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich at the Bitcoin MENA Conference.
Mr. Saylor's answer was, “We're going to start 12 months early, not within the next 12 months.”
Gerovich raised the issue as Metaplanet seeks to introduce its own digital credit product into Japan's largely “sleepy” perpetual priority market.
According to Gerovich, there are currently only five companies in Japan with perpetual preferred stock listed, and All Nippon Airways (ANA) is the fifth. Metaplanet aims to become number 6 and 7 with two new instruments, “Mercury'' and “Mars.''
Mercury, which Gerovich described as a metaplanet version of Strategy's STRK, pays 4.9% in yen and includes convertibility. Gerovich contrasted this with Japanese bank deposits and money market funds, where yields are close to zero or around 50 basis points, highlighting that Mercury pays about 10 times more interest. Mercury is in the pre-IPO stage, and Gerovich hopes to go public by early 2026.
The second product, Mars, is designed to mirror Strategy's STRC, a short-term high-yield credit product.
The exchange comes as Strategy recently expanded its unique Perpetual Priority program. The company currently holds four perpetual preferreds in the US and recently launched Stream (STRM), its first euro-denominated preferred outside the US.
Gerovich also pointed out that Japan does not allow market share sales or ATMs like the one Strategic uses for both common stock and perpetual preferred stock. Metaplanet is instead using a similar mechanism known as a mobile strike warrant (MSW), which it plans to apply to permanent priority service.
The two leaders also differed over how many Bitcoin treasury companies should issue what Saylor called digital credits. Saylor encouraged broad participation, citing the Strive (SATA) vehicle and saying 12 publishers are expected.
Gerovich argued that the focus should be on balance sheet strength rather than the number of issuers, adding that Metaplanet intends to issue credit primarily in Japan and potentially across Asia, but not in other markets for now.
