Animoca Brands, Solv Protocol Launch Yield Infrastructure for Japanese Bitcoin Firms

Web3 giant Animoca Brands has announced a strategic partnership with decentralized yield platform Solv Protocol to develop a yield-generating infrastructure for Japanese enterprises and publicly listed companies holding significant Bitcoin treasuries. According to a statement released to Cointelegraph, the initiative aims to address a critical inefficiency in the corporate crypto environment.

Solv Protocol announces Animoca partnership to generate Bitcoin yield for Japanese corporate firms. Source: Solv Protocol X

Speaking on the partnership, Animoca CEO Kensuke Amo highlighted that many companies treat Bitcoin as a pristine collateral asset but lack the ability to earn returns comparable to dividends or interest from fiat currencies. The new venture seeks to bridge this gap, enabling corporate Bitcoin holders to generate yield while maintaining their asset exposure.

The project will initially target large Japanese firms with the highest Bitcoin holdings. Among them, Metaplanet, the country’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder with approximately 30,823 BTC valued at around $2.8 billion in its digital wallets, stands to be a primary beneficiary of this initiative, positioning the company to unlock value from its digital treasury.

How Animoca-Solv Partnership Plans to Make More Money Off Bitcoin Value

The core of the offering is the integration of Solv Protocol’s SolvBTC standard into a customized interface designed for Japanese corporate users. Solv Protocol, which manages more than $2.8 billion in assets and is fully backed by investors including Binance Labs and Blockchain Capital, provides the technical foundation for the smooth execution of this project.

Through the new infrastructure, Japanese firms will be able to stake their Bitcoin holdings into Solv’s ecosystem without liquidating their positions, and in return, they can expect annual percentage yields (APY) ranging between 4% and 12% as crypto rewards. This essentially ranks Bitcoin investment above traditional assets that offer way less.

Accordingly, the DeFi company will generate returns through various on-chain activities, including providing liquidity to decentralized exchanges and automated market makers, supplying Bitcoin to over-collateralized lending platforms where borrowing demand remains strong, and using delta-neutral strategies on derivatives exchanges to capture funding rates.

The CEO, Ryan Chow, also added that the system will allocate assets to emerging Bitcoin Layer-2 staking networks, such as Babylon, which uses Bitcoin’s economic security to support other blockchain ecosystems.

Japan Emerges as the Top Beneficiary As Regulatory Landscape Relaxes

Also, this partnership project arrives at a time when the Japanese regulatory environment appears increasingly friendly to digital assets. According to the latest crypto news, the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), is progressing with reforms that could include tax incentives for crypto gains as well as relaxed regulations for leveraged trading and asset securitization coming between 2026 and 2027.

Likewise, the launch of this project, as many speculated, could have been due to the presence of large bitcoin companies in Japan. Based on recent data, there are at least 11 public Japanese companies that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Among them, Metaplanet leads the pack with approximately 30,823 BTC, making it the largest publicly disclosed Bitcoin treasury in Japan and among the top globally.

Other companies include gaming firm Nexon (which is headquartered in Japan, although it’s a South Korean company), and Remixpoint, a consulting company with about 1,273 BTC. For these companies, the project offers a compelling value proposition.

Digging Deeper Into Amonica and Solv’s Partnership

Furthermore, the partnership between both brands is not an isolated move, but part of a broader pattern in which both organizations have been steadily expanding their institutional footprint across the Web3 ecosystem.

Animoca, long known for its aggressive investment strategy and collaborations across blockchain gaming, digital identity, metaverse infrastructure, and now, decentralized finance, has previously joined forces with renowned networks like Polygon, The Sandbox, and Immutable, among other Web3 infrastructure providers, to accelerate mainstream crypto adoption.

Meanwhile, Solv Protocol enters this partnership with strong institutional momentum of its own. Earlier this year, it teamed up with U.S.-listed Jiuizi Holdings on a landmark plan to deploy up to 10,000 BTC (nearly $1 billion) into Solv’s BTC+ yield vaults. Animoca’s extensive Web3 alliance network, coupled with Solv’s proven track record, creates a powerful foundation for their new initiative in Japan.

Potential Upside and Risks

While the Animoca-Solv initiative offers Japanese corporations a compelling opportunity to transform dormant Bitcoin holdings into productive assets, market experts note that such a model carries both meaningful upside and unavoidable risks. On the positive side, access to Solv’s BTC-backed yield infrastructure could allow listed companies and institutional treasuries to unlock new revenue streams at a time when traditional yields remain comparatively low.

With targeted returns ranging from 4% to 12% annually, the program is well-positioned to attract more institutional inflows. If successful, this model could be exported, particularly as Japan is often seen as the regulatory sandbox for the rest of Asia.

However, most analysts remain cautious. They assert that Bitcoin’s volatility and DeFi complexities introduce higher risks than traditional treasury instruments. Also, they reckon that smart-contract vulnerabilities, market dislocations, and liquidity shocks are potential pitfalls, as well as Japan’s regulatory uncertainty.

Finally, companies accustomed to conservative treasury practices may need to undergo internal governance reforms, adopt new risk management frameworks, and develop greater tolerance for market-driven fluctuations.

Conclusion

Animoca’s partnership with Solv Protocol marks a significant milestone for Bitcoin’s institutional adoption. Historically, investors have relied primarily on the coin’s volatility and four-year cycle projections to generate returns. This initiative, however, introduces a new dimension: it has the potential to reshape how Bitcoin is perceived and utilized in the corporate world. If successful, it could pave the way for broader adoption and drive a transformative shift in corporate crypto strategies.

Both brands independently cited concrete market and regulatory factors in explaining why Japan was chosen for their latest project. Previously, Solv had acknowledged the growing Web3 ecosystem in Japan and emphasized the country’s regulatory clarity and strong institutional interest in digital asset banking.

On its own, Animoca affirmed the country’s growing pool of corporations holding substantial Bitcoin treasuries. Most importantly, the idea coincided with the FSA’s plan to introduce tax incentives to crypto gains while encouraging asset securitization.

As of press time, reactions to this collaboration remain limited. This may be an indication of the novelty surrounding combining corporate treasury management with DeFi-based yield strategies and the closed-door nature of institutional decision-making. Nonetheless, broader public or market sentiment is likely to form as soon as firms begin adopting the platform or publishing early results.