AI and Crypto Stock Movers with Rare Value: Strategy, Metaplanet, Circle Internet and Strategic Resources in Focus

Strategy and Metaplanet: Who Is the Most Successful Bitcoin Holder?

Bitcoin is once again the talk of the town, up 30% since the end of June. In the race for the title of the most successful publicly traded Bitcoin holder, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has a clear lead in a direct comparison with its Japanese challenger, Metaplanet. The US company led by Michael Saylor has done pioneering work and, as of September 2026, holds a staggering 847,670 BTC in its treasury. In contrast, the Tokyo-listed firm Metaplanet is often referred to as the "Asian MicroStrategy" because of its aggressive buying strategy. Although Metaplanet rapidly expanded its holdings in 2026 and surpassed 43,000 BTC, the physical gap between it and the American market leader remains monumental.

Despite the size gap, Metaplanet is now proudly considered the world's third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder. Both companies use similar financial levers, such as stock and bond issuances, to convert fresh capital directly into digital tokens. However, Strategy has an invaluable structural advantage in generating billions thanks to its access to the significantly deeper US capital markets. While the US heavyweight continues its purchases almost weekly, Metaplanet, under CEO Simon Gerovich, is pursuing the ambitious goal of breaking the 100,000 Bitcoin mark by the end of 2026. Today, both companies serve investors equally as highly leveraged proxy stocks for the direct Bitcoin price. The bottom line is that Strategy remains the undisputed king of crypto accumulation, as it even doubled in value during the 30% BTC rally. Metaplanet gained 50% and is thus the most successful BTC outperformer among the larger stocks in the Asian region. Both stocks are highly speculative, but extremely interesting as Bitcoin replicators, since they operate in a liquid stock market and are not subject to the vagaries of crypto exchanges.

Circle Internet: A Prime Market for US Bonds

Circle Internet pursues a unique business model. As the issuer of the world's second-largest stablecoin, USDC, the US fintech company generates astronomical revenues by backing every digital coin 100% with highly liquid, real-world assets. These reserves are underpinned by short-term US Treasury bills, which the company deposits in a government money market fund managed exclusively by Blackrock. So when users exchange cash for USDC, Circle invests this capital directly in US government debt, thereby acting as one of the most reliable institutional buyers of US bonds. While USDC holders benefit from a stable, value-preserving 1:1 dollar equivalent for unlimited real-time payments, Circle pockets nearly all of the interest earned. Given the consistently solid returns in the US interest rate market, this interest margin is proving to be a highly efficient money-printing machine. The legal legitimacy of this model has been firmly underpinned in the US by milestones such as the GENIUS Act, which further strengthens the confidence of institutional players. In addition, Circle is aggressively pursuing its ambitions and now even offers USYC, its own tokenized money market fund, to enable institutional clients to earn returns directly on the blockchain. In this way, Circle inextricably links traditional Wall Street with the modern crypto sector and reinforces its role as a systemically important bridge-builder in the global financial system. But caution is warranted: Even though 16 out of 32 analysts on the LSEG Refinitiv platform are signaling a "Buy", a 2027 P/E ratio of 60 and a P/S ratio of 5 must be fundamentally justified.

Strategic Resources: On the Trail of Green Steel with BlackRock and Mustavaara

The bridge-builder for a functioning digital infrastructure could be Strategic Resources in a few years. The Canadian company has been working for several years on a key interface between critical raw materials, European steel decarbonization, and North American supply security. At the heart of this is the BlackRock project in Québec, which, with approximately 127.8 million metric tonnes of reserves and a planned mine life of 39 years, is intended to create a long-term raw material base for the production of high-quality iron products. The initial plan is to build a pelletizing plant at the deep-water port of Port Saguenay with a capacity of approximately 4 million metric tonnes of DR-grade pellets per year; the site combines several industrial location advantages, including hydropower, natural gas infrastructure, and direct access to the St. Lawrence River.

The key appeal lies less in the traditional iron ore business than in the potential integration into a steel industry that will be increasingly electrified and hydrogen-based in the future. Here, the new FutSteel project at the University of Oulu provides an interesting technological boost. As part of the EUR 17 million research program with SSAB, running through 2029, Strategic Resources is using vanadium-rich magnetite concentrate from its Mustavaara project to test hydrogen-based iron production. This provides the Finnish Mustavaara project with additional technological validation beyond its raw material potential, as FutSteel is examining the entire process chain—from iron production through the electric arc furnace to modern hot rolling.

This matters for Strategic Resources because high-quality iron ore pellets and suitable concentrates are key feedstocks for direct reduced iron (DRI), while the transition to hydrogen and electricity still faces high costs and infrastructure hurdles. The IEA notes that while hydrogen-based DRI-EAF processes are an important option for lower-emission steel, their costs remain significantly higher than the traditional blast furnace route. This is precisely why the availability of high-quality, locally processable raw materials may become increasingly important in the future, as not all iron ore is equally suitable for direct reduction. According to the company, Mustavaara has approximately 103.7 million metric tonnes of measured and indicated resources containing 15.36% magnetite and 0.90% vanadium in the magnetite concentrate, plus an additional 42.2 million metric tonnes of inferred resources. In addition, an approximately 18 km long magnetic anomaly offers further exploration potential, making the Finnish project a potential European component of the strategy.

IIF host Lyndsay Malchuk speaks with CEO Sean Cleary about the planned construction of the processing plant in Québec.

https://youtu.be/ha8A2-FPIwk

The connection between Canada and Europe thus becomes the key strategic issue. The BlackRock project is expected to facilitate a large-scale production platform in North America, while Mustavaara serves as a European anchor for raw materials and technology. At the same time, this geographic positioning fits into a market where supply security and diversification are becoming as important as the raw material price itself. In addition, the partnership with Tyfast Energy opens up prospects for a vanadium-to-battery value chain and, in turn, a potential second customer market outside the traditional steel industry. The key factor for the stock's further revaluation now is whether Strategic Resources can translate the approval and financing of BlackRock's first 4-million-metric-tonne phase into concrete project progress. The stock was most recently trading in the range of CAD 0.22 to 0.26; with a market capitalization of CAD 12 million, the stock is not expensive in the explorer sector!

The enormous demand for computing power to train AI models and secure crypto networks has become the primary catalyst for a new commodities supercycle. The construction of gigantic hyperscale data centres is devouring countless metric tons of critical metals—such as copper, aluminium, steel, and silver—for power lines, buildings, cooling systems, and state-of-the-art microchips. The immense appetite of these digital industries is driving not only massive demand for electricity but also a surge in demand for all kinds of energy sources. Because the supply of these physical resources is extremely limited due to years of underinvestment in mining, the digital revolution will structurally drive up commodity prices for years to come. Investors should invest in a balanced manner across upstream and downstream segments to tap into all sources of returns.