Bitcoin treasury 2.0: Derivatives replace 'hodling' as the new playbook

Lee Sung-hoon, CEO of Bitplanet

Bitcoin's price recently surged in a short period, recovering the $80,000 level, but the preceding year had been marked by a prolonged downturn. That environment threw into sharp relief the diverging capital strategies of two bitcoin treasury companies. Strategy, the world's largest corporate bitcoin holder, sold $430 million worth of bitcoin this year to fund preferred stock dividends and redemptions. Metaplanet of Japan, by contrast, bought roughly 7,900 additional bitcoin worth $623 million over the same period.

Metaplanet was a small Tokyo hotel operator before it pivoted to a treasury model by purchasing bitcoin in April 2024. By the end of that year it had established a dedicated "Bitcoin Income" division and begun running a cash-secured options strategy within a separate portfolio.

The mechanics work as follows. The company sells cash-secured put options with strike prices below the current market price. If bitcoin stays above the strike price, the options expire worthless and Metaplanet pockets the premium. If the price falls and the options are exercised, the company acquires bitcoin at the agreed strike price — but the premium it already collected effectively lowers its cost basis.