Animoca Brands Japan and RootstockLabs Collaborate on Bitcoin DeFi Tools for Japanese Market

Animoca Brands Japan has announced a partnership with RootstockLabs to bring Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi) tools to Japanese corporations and institutions. According to Cointelegraph, the collaboration seeks to localize and implement Rootstock’s institutional program in Japan, allowing companies to incorporate Bitcoin (BTC) into their corporate treasury strategies while utilizing onchain financial tools secured by Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW). This initiative was revealed in a Tuesday announcement. Kensuke Amo, CEO of Animoca Brands Japan, highlighted the growing trend of Japanese companies integrating cryptoassets into their financial and treasury strategies. He stated that through this partnership, Animoca Brands Japan and RootstockLabs aim to facilitate corporate adoption of cryptoassets in compliance with Japan's regulatory environment. Rootstock, a Bitcoin sidechain, is secured by a significant portion of Bitcoin’s total hash power through merged mining, enabling it to inherit Bitcoin’s security while supporting Ethereum-compatible smart contracts. RootstockLabs plays a key role as a core contributor to Rootstock. The partnership will concentrate on assisting Japanese companies in managing Bitcoin as part of their treasury operations. This includes exploring Bitcoin-based financial tools and services built on Rootstock. The companies plan to investigate how firms can use these tools to enhance treasury efficiency while adhering to Japan’s regulatory framework. They will evaluate the use of Rootstock-based assets such as Rootstock Bitcoin (rBTC), a Bitcoin-pegged token used in its DeFi ecosystem, and Rootstock Infrastructure Framework (RIF), a suite of utility protocols designed to scale Bitcoin by enabling faster, cheaper decentralized applications (dApps). Animoca Brands Japan may offer these services through its Digital Asset Treasury Management Support Service. Japanese companies are increasingly viewing Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. Metaplanet stands out as a leading corporate adopter of a Bitcoin treasury strategy in Japan, holding 35,102 BTC. Other publicly traded Japanese companies with Bitcoin positions include NEXON Co., Ltd., with approximately 1,717 BTC, Remixpoint with about 1,411 BTC, and Anap Holdings Inc. with around 1,347 BTC. This growing interest underscores the potential for Bitcoin to become a significant component of corporate treasury strategies in Japan.