Convano Inc was, until recently, a sleepy Tokyo-listed operator of nail salons. Now it wants to become one of the world’s largest corporate holders of Bitcoin — the latest in a wave of radical financial reinventions pulling the likes of biotech firms and regional banks into crypto’s orbit.
Even as signs mount that the digital-asset treasury boom is losing steam, Convano has unveiled a highly ambitious plan: raise about ¥434 billion (US$3 billion) and acquire 21,000 Bitcoin — equivalent to 0.1% of the total supply. At the time of announcement, its market value was a fraction of that sum. Its shares have since more than doubled.
As of Aug 25, however, it has raised just 2% of the required funds and holds a modest 365 Bitcoin. To make good on its gambit, Convano is following a model popularized by Michael Saylor’s Strategy: generate retail and institutional interest, lift the share price, then convert that momentum into capital for further Bitcoin purchases.
“We will enhance corporate value with the new plan which will increase our stock price 10 times,” said Motokiyo Azuma, a director at Convano who heads the firm’s finance and crypto strategies.
Convano's Shares Jump on Bitcoin Treasury Plan
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In the ‘build it and they will come’ world of crypto, projecting big ambitions is part of the business model. Bold targets — even those far beyond a company’s current means — serve a function: they set expectations, attract attention, and, in the best-case scenario, move the market just enough to make the math work.
The company is also presenting the pivot as a rational response to macroeconomic pressures. A prolonged slide in the yen — around 21% weaker against the dollar over the past decade — has pushed up the cost of wages and raw materials for its consumer services business.
“We started to think about Bitcoin because of the persistent yen depreciation and geopolitical risks,” Azuma said. “Bitcoin is a long-term store of value.”
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Of the money Convano has raised to date, ¥4.5 billion has come from corporate bonds. It wants to acquire Bitcoin in three phases, assuming an average price of ¥19.9 million per coin. Nomura Securities and SMBC Nikko Securities are acting as brokers. The company has not disclosed any anchor investor or timeline for completing the fundraising.
Japan has emerged as a surprising centre for the eye-catching business of Bitcoin accumulation via listed vehicles. Metaplanet Inc, a former hotel operator, now has nearly 19,000 Bitcoin, placing it among the top 10 holders globally.
The risk is that the momentum behind crypto treasuries unravels. So-called PIPE and SPAC deals have been used to turn a slew of low-growth companies into crypto proxies. So far, the results have been mixed. Peter Thiel-backed Ethzilla lost more than half of its value within days of pivoting to a Ether accumulator.
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“You can’t limp in,” said Michael Bucella, co-founder of Neoclassic Capital, a crypto investment manager. “You need to come in with size and be quick.”
Even the giants of crypto stockpiling, such as Saylor’s Strategy, are at pains to quicken the pace of their Bitcoin purchases. Convano’s plan depends not only on Bitcoin’s appeal, but on the company’s ability to sustain investor confidence. If the stock price plunges, the financing model buckles.
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“It’s like catching a falling knife,” said Esme Pau, head of capital markets at blockchain security group Certik. “The same volatility that inflates valuations can erase them just as quickly.”
Azuma says the shift is a response to economic pressure. Japan’s onerous crypto taxation rules could make listed proxies like Convano a popular way of getting exposure to digital assets in the country.
But the strategy rests on high hopes. Convano aims to buy 21,000 Bitcoin without the cash flow to fund it. Its success hinges on how long markets are willing to price in the crypto-reinvention story — and whether they still see economic value in the treasury model over competing Bitcoin vaults, such as exchange-traded funds.
“The funding scale — which is multiple times its value — makes the plan, solely via equity-based funding from share-price rise, highly ambitious,” said Convano’s Azuma.
