Metaplanet, the Tokyo-listed Bitcoin treasury company, cancelled 131 million shares from its executive reward pool on Friday, reducing the insider stake by 41.1 percent after weeks of shareholder backlash over dilution.
The board cut the conversion ratio on remaining warrants from 696 to 410 shares per warrant, shrinking the total pool from 319.46 million shares to 188.19 million. After accounting for already-exercised warrants, the net reduction reached 55.5 percent, with the remaining pool falling to 105.37 million shares. Chief Executive Simon Gerovich valued the cancelled claim at more than $220 million.
The company also scrapped a planned executive incentive vehicle and deferred vesting of surviving options into equal thirds across 2029, 2030 and 2031, extending the payout schedule by years.
The dispute arose from the pool's rapid expansion. It grew from 46 million shares to 319.5 million as the company raised capital for its Bitcoin treasury. The pool was pegged to a percentage of issuable stock rather than fixed to a share count, causing it to expand automatically with each equity raise without requiring a shareholder vote. Metaplanet's total share count climbed from 153.9 million to 1.35 billion over two years.
"This is a meaningful concession and a much better alignment of management and shareholders," said Mathew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck. "Credit to them for taking the criticism seriously."
David Bailey, chief executive of Metaplanet investor Nakamoto, had argued that 20 percent of the cap table was not excessive compensation for the team rebuilding the company.
Gerovich acknowledged the shareholder concerns, stating: "We also now recognize that disclosure and awareness are not always equivalent." The statement signalled acceptance of the criticism rather than contestation.
The reduction lifts Bitcoin per fully diluted share by 8.8 percent. Metaplanet's stock closed at 251 yen in Tokyo, up 2.87 percent, barely above the 244 yen it hit when the pool was frozen last week after falling roughly 17 percent over two prior trading sessions.
Metaplanet warrants grant rights to purchase shares at a fixed price of 10 yen each. The company's stated next step is to engage an outside consultant to design a replacement compensation plan, with no details yet published. The specifics of that new structure will determine the ultimate shareholder impact.
