If Trump Adopts Bitcoin, Expect Japan And Others To Follow: Metaplanet CEO

At Michael Saylor’s high-profile New Year’s Eve $100,000 Bitcoin party in Miami, Simon Gerovich, President and CEO of Metaplanet—often dubbed as Japan’s MicroStrategy—shared his insights on the evolving landscape of BTC adoption among governments and corporations. In an exclusive interview, Gerovich outlined the potential global implications if incoming US President Donald Trump moves forward with establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).

Asian Nations Could Follow Trump’s Bitcoin Lead

Gerovich emphasized the gradual yet persistent integration of BTC into high-level governmental discussions and corporate strategies worldwide. “Slowly but surely seeing Bitcoin becoming a topic of discussion at the highest levels of government, corporations around the world beginning to adopt it as a Bitcoin standard,” he stated. He further elaborated on Metaplanet’s strategic pivot towards BTC, noting, “In April for us that’s when we decided that we wanted to adopt Bitcoin and now all we want to do is accumulate more BTC over time for our shareholders. And so 2024 will go down as the year where it all began.”

Addressing the potential influence of Trump’s policies on global adoption, Gerovich expressed confidence in the president-elect’s commitment. “I do think that the Bitcoin community in the US helped elect the president. And so hopefully President Trump will do what he has said that he will, which is to make Bitcoin a strategic reserve,” he affirmed. Gerovich posited that such a move by the US would likely set a precedent, leading other nations to follow suit. “And then countries around the world will follow.”

Focusing on Japan’s role in this anticipated shift, Gerovich highlighted the nation’s tendency to emulate US policies. “Japan is one of those countries where they do look to the US as sort of their big brother and follow in their footsteps. And so I think if President Trump does adopt it as a strategic reserve, then Japan and many other countries in Asia will do the same,” he explained.

He further speculated on the broader Asian and developing world implications, suggesting that BTC adoption could serve as a means for these countries to bolster their currencies. “In a way, it’s sort of like we’re going to see the game theory play out in full circle. […] I think a lot of the third world countries in particular that see, you know, perhaps adopting Bitcoin will be a way to show up currencies. It’s going to be interesting to see,” he added.

Reflecting on recent discussions from the Bitcoin conference in Abu Dhabi, Gerovich revealed, “We got to hear from a lot of the governments in the region. And I think it’s definitely something that is a topic and they are secretly buying kind of behind the scenes. And hopefully they will announce quite soon.” He anticipates that following a strategic reserve declaration by Trump, other nations will publicly acknowledge their BTC holdings. “After President Trump announces the strategic reserve, I think a lot of other countries will say, actually, we own BTC as well.”

At press time, BTC traded at $94,325.