FILE PHOTO: Visitors walk near Metaplanet’s booth during the Bitcoin Asia conference, in Hong Kong, China, August 28, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

By Rocky Swift and Anton Bridge

TOKYO (Reuters) -Eric Trump is expected to attend a shareholder meeting of Japanese bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet in Tokyo on Monday, as the U.S. president's family expands its crypto ventures internationally.

The second son of President Donald Trump was named in March as an adviser to Metaplanet, which holds more than $2 billion in bitcoin, and his attendance would follow an appearance last week at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong.

Metaplanet stockholders were asked to approve a plan that would sell up to 550 million new shares overseas for 130.3 billion yen ($884.41 million), with the bulk of the proceeds to be spent on buying more bitcoin.

Three people who came out of the meeting held in the Shibuya area of central Tokyo said the capital-raising plan was approved, and that Eric Trump was due to speak at a fireside chat at the same venue later in the day.

Metaplanet declined to comment on Eric Trump's involvement in the meeting, when Reuters contacted the company before the meeting began. A representative for him did not respond to requests for comment.

Donald Trump has promised to be the "crypto president", saying he backs the asset class because it can improve the banking system and increase the dominance of the U.S. dollar.

Some of Trump's businesses in areas such as crypto, which have added substantially to his wealth, benefit from U.S. policy shifts under him and have invited criticism.

American Bitcoin, a miner of the cryptocurrency founded by Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr., is aiming to list on the Nasdaq this month. Asher Genoot, CEO of the company that presently holds 80% of American Bitcoin, said Eric Trump would attend the Metaplanet event, which was previously reported by Bloomberg.

COSTUMES AND FOOD TRUCKS

At the meeting venue, it was a festive scene, with people in costumes lined up at the entrance, food trucks assembled, and a K-Pop band due to perform. Media were not allowed to observe the meeting, which is due to run till late afternoon.

Previously a hotel operator, Metaplanet's pivot into crypto has paid off handsomely. Citing Michael Saylor's bitcoin treasury firm Strategy MSTR.O as an inspiration, founder and chief executive Simon Gerovich liquidated most of Metaplanet's hotel assets, already in the doldrums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and piled into the cryptocurrency.

Selling bonds and warrants, Metaplanet has continued to buy bitcoin and is now the seventh-largest holder among public treasuries globally, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. It announced on Monday it added another 1,009 coins to bring its total hoard to 20,000.

Its shares have surged nearly 760% in the past 12 months, compared with a 14% advance in the Topix. The stock was down 3.9% in Monday afternoon trading in Tokyo.

Metaplanet appointed Eric Trump earlier this year to a newly formed board of advisers, calling him a "leading voice and advocate of digital asset adoption worldwide".

The company, which trades on the Standard section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was previously known as Red Planet Japan and focused on hotel operations. Before that, it was a wholesaler of music CDs.

The company's subsidiary, Red Planet Hotels Japan, filed for bankruptcy in May 2024.

($1 = 147.3300 yen)

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)