Metaplanet Faces Shareholder Backlash Over Stock Dilution Concerns Amid Southeast Asia Crypto Boom

Metaplanet, a Japanese Bitcoin treasury company, is facing shareholder backlash over concerns about stock dilution. The issue stems from Metaplanet's 10th Series executive option pool, which was designed to give executives 20% of the fully diluted shares and automatically expanded as new shares were issued to fund BTC accumulation.

Some shareholders are requesting that Metaplanet cancel the additional 273 million shares created by these changes and provide more transparency on future decisions. David Bailey, Bitcoin Magazine CEO, defended Metaplanet's approach, stating that giving executives 20% of the cap table over five years 'isn't some crazy number.' However, many shareholders disagree.

In other news, Citi plans to offer Japanese companies fast cross-border blockchain payments through infrastructure including outside standard banking hours. In Southeast Asia, investment in crypto firms doubled between 2025 and 2026, with the region recording 25 funding rounds worth $680 million in 2026. Singapore has taken the lead as a hub for cryptocurrency and is home to 2,285 of the 3,957 blockchain companies in the region.

US authorities restrained over $52 million in crypto linked to scam marketplace Xinbi Guarantee and its vendor network, designating Xinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization. Gemini has received a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing it to provide regulated payment services without transaction-volume limits.