How Gumi and SBI Are Integrating Bitcoin into Corporate Treasury Strategies

Gumi has turned its treasury into a crypto instrument. According to a Tuesday announcement reported by the Bitcoin Foundation, the Tokyo-listed mobile and blockchain game developer is activating SBI Crypto Fund I on August 1 — a ¥3 billion (~$18 million) private crypto vehicle built with SBI Financial Services and backed by outside investors including Daiwa Securities Group. The fund runs for three years and is closed to retail.

It is the clearest signal yet that a mid-tier Asian game studio is treating listed crypto assets as a balance-sheet allocation, not a side bet.

Structure Asymmetry

The vehicle's ownership does the talking. SBI Crypto Fund LLC is 51% owned by SBI Financial Services and 49% by gC Labs, Gumi's wholly owned subsidiary. Gumi is the minority partner; SBI controls the operator. Capital is third-party money with Gumi's exposure capped at the sub-vehicle. That is a treasury-aligned deployment, not a control play.

Mandate is Bitcoin and "major altcoins," with staking, rebalancing, and hedging strategies "centered on listed crypto assets." In yield terms this is a yield-generating instrument, not a venture bet. The three-year lockup eliminates short-term liquidity optionality. Gumi frames the purpose as "establishing a leading position in market formation" through operational data — preparing for the day Japan permits domestic spot crypto ETFs.

The asymmetry is notable. SBI brings the regulatory scaffolding and the institutional LP base; Gumi contributes the brand and a small slice of capital. Daiwa Securities Group's role as an outside investor adds a second tier of legitimacy. Together the structure reads less like a partnership and more like Gumi buying a seat at a regulated crypto infrastructure table.

Blockchain Game Track Record, Decoupled

Gumi's blockchain footprint predates the fund but does not feed into it. The company entered crypto in 2018 via an investment vehicle, followed by Brave Frontier Heroes in January 2020 — operated by portfolio company double jump.tokyo and built on the My Crypto Heroes system. A dedicated blockchain-game subsidiary followed in June 2022, and the first self-developed blockchain title, Phantom of the Kill: Alternative Imitation — an idle RPG with NFT characters and OSHI token earnings — shipped in March 2024.

The crypto fund is a separate rail. It does not extend the game-token utility surface; it allocates balance-sheet capital to listed crypto assets with staking yield. OSHI tokens from Phantom of the Kill are not part of the fund's mandate. For trackers monitoring Gumi's on-chain footprint, the distinction matters: the fund is treasury management, not game economy expansion.

What to Watch

The fund's first quarterly disclosure will be the initial hard metric. Three structural questions follow: which "major altcoins" make the cut, whether staking yields net out the management fees over the three-year term, and whether Japan lifts its spot crypto ETF ban before the fund matures. If restrictions ease, the data thesis pays off — and the operational record Gumi accumulates becomes a competitive moat for any future regulated product. If they don't, ¥3 billion is a measured bet against regulatory latency, with staking yields as the only yield floor.