Asset manager VanEck has criticized MetaPlanet’s executive compensation structure, arguing that recent efforts by the bitcoin treasury company to prevent shareholder dilution still lack management adequately aligned with investors.
on friday Report Examining executive compensation across the 10 largest digital asset treasury companies, VanEck labeled MetaPlanet’s compensation structure “poor,” making it the only firm to fall into the lowest category. VanEck cited an equity plan equal to 14.7% of fully diluted shares and officer exposure of 8.2%.
VanEck said MetaPlanet’s officer exposure is about 10 times the 0.8% average of nine other companies analyzed, while its overall equity plan is about four times the peer average.
In comparison, Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin (BTC) holder, has an equity plan equal to 2% of fully diluted shares and officer exposure of 0.5%. VanEck rated its compensation structure “good,” noting that its equity reserves are stable and that a shareholder vote is needed to increase the plan.
Metaplanet is a Japanese bitcoin treasury company that is currently the third largest publicly traded corporate bitcoin holder, with 43,000 BTC according to BitcoinTreasuries.net.
Top 10 Bitcoin Treasury Companies. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET
Bitcoin Purchase Expanded Executive Option Pool
VanEck said the disparity stems in part from MetaPlanet’s former compensation structure, which allowed the company’s option pool to automatically expand as it issued shares to pay for bitcoin purchases. The process increased the pool from 46 million shares to 319.5 million, adding about 273 million potential shares.
At the time, the expansion drew criticism from some Metaplanet shareholders, who called on the company to cancel additional potential shares created by the adjustment process.
Amid criticism, MetaPlanet ended the automatic adjustment process in August and reduced the overall pool by 41% from 319.5 million to 188.2 million shares in September. VanEck, however, said the change still “falls far short of the mark”.
MetaPlanet’s Equity Compensation Versus Peers. Source: Vanek Research
Friday’s report called for MetaPlanet to reverse the nearly 273 million-share expansion created by the adjustment clause and replace the remaining rights with a shareholder-approved compensation plan. Vanek separately noted that unless past donations are returned, much has been liquidated.
VanEck also recommends tying executive compensation to a metric such as fully diluted shares per bitcoin and adopting a written grant-time policy.
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