VanEck has assigned a 'Bad' rating to Metaplanet regarding its executive compensation practices, marking it as the only company among the 10 largest digital asset treasuries to receive this grade. The assessment, published on September 18, indicates that the firm failed all four of VanEck's evaluation criteria.
Metaplanet, a Tokyo-listed company holding 43,000 Bitcoin, funds its acquisitions through share issuance, debt, and preferred stock. The company's share count increased from 153.9 million to approximately 1.35 billion over two years. An automatic formula linked executive option pools to these issuances, causing the pool to grow from 46 million to 319.5 million shares.
VanEck's analysis shows Metaplanet's option pool represents 14.7% of shares, compared to a 4.0% peer average. Executives hold 8.2% of shares, which is 10 times the peer average of 0.8%. Additionally, the company failed to require shareholder votes for pool growth and lacks performance hurdles for awards.
Under shareholder pressure, the board implemented two changes. On August 18, it repealed an evergreen dilution clause. On September 11, it rolled back terms to pre-September 2025 levels, reducing the pool by 41% to 188.2 million shares. Despite these adjustments, VanEck maintains the 'Bad' rating, noting that 82.8 million shares had already been granted to insiders.
