Vanguard's VSS takes a $7.5 million stake in Bitcoin holder Metaplanet

Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF (VSS) bought 4.5 million shares of Metaplanet, a Tokyo-listed Japanese company holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet, for a stake worth about $7.5 million. The stake was disclosed on Oct. 26 and was VSS’s first disclosed Metaplanet purchase. Other Vanguard funds already hold the stock: VGTSX raised its stake to 15.64 million shares at about $53.5 million, while VJPN bought 704,500 shares last year valued near $2.1 million. Metaplanet holds 44,000 BTC and positions itself as the second-biggest corporate owner of Bitcoin; owning its shares provides exposure to its Bitcoin treasury strategy but not direct Bitcoin investment.