VanEck, a global investment management firm, examined executive compensation practices across the 10 largest Digital Asset Treasury companies and marked Metaplanet as "Bad" for its approach to executive pay.
The core concern centers on dilution risk. Metaplanet's option pool represents 14.7% on a fully diluted basis, with officer exposure reaching 8.2% and the largest individual officer position at 3.8%. These figures substantially exceed peer averages: the option pool is 3.7 times the 4.0% peer average, officer exposure is 10.4 times the 0.8% average, and the largest officer position is 5.9 times the 0.6% average.
Comparison to Peers
Other Digital Asset Treasury companies received higher ratings. Strategy, BitMine, Hyperliquid Strategies, Sharplink, Tron, and Bit Digital received "Good" designations, characterized by fixed pools and shareholder approval requirements for increases. Strategy maintains a fixed 8.35 million-share pool (about 2% of fully diluted shares) with 0.5% executive exposure, while BitMine's pool is 3.2% with 1% officer exposure. Twenty One Capital, Strive, and Forward Industries were placed in the "Acceptable" category.
Historical Context
Metaplanet's compensation structure originated when the company was a struggling hotel operator and was designed to protect executive compensation from dilution. After transitioning to a Bitcoin treasury strategy, the mechanism persisted, allowing the executive option pool to grow as the company issued shares to fund Bitcoin purchases.
By mid-2026, the pool had reached 319.5 million potential shares (approximately 20% of the company) on a fully diluted basis. On August 18, 2026, Metaplanet removed the automatic "Evergreen" mechanism but retained the enlarged pool. Subsequently, on September 11, the company rolled back the conversion ratio to pre-September 2025 levels, reducing the pool by 41% to 188.2 million shares. Of this, 82.8 million shares had already been issued to insiders, leaving 105.4 million potential new shares (roughly 7% of the company).
Unlike peers such as Strategy, BitMine, and Strive, Metaplanet's rights contain no performance conditions beyond continued service.
VanEck's Recommendations
VanEck proposed four structural changes: cancel approximately 273 million shares added through the adjustment mechanism, replace remaining rights with a smaller shareholder-approved plan, link compensation to Bitcoin per fully diluted share, and adopt a written equity-grant timing policy.
VanEck estimates that prior to recent reductions, management dilution could have absorbed roughly 20% of the economic value created through Bitcoin purchases, leaving shareholders with approximately 80%.
Current Position
Metaplanet's Bitcoin holdings have reached 43,000 BTC. The company's stock traded at ¥243.00 after a 2.10% increase in its most recent trading day, though the stock has declined nearly 50% year-to-date.
