1. Introduction: Unlocking Bitcoin Productivity in Japan’s Institutional Market
As Bitcoin continues to mature into a core asset held across corporate treasuries, financial institutions, and exchanges, Japanese enterprises face the same global challenge:
How can Bitcoin be made productive without sacrificing self-custody or introducing third-party risk?
Babylon Labs and Ginco Inc., Japan’s leading enterprise digital-asset infrastructure provider, are announcing a strategic collaboration to explore and advance the next phase of institutional Bitcoin finance, called BTCFi 2.0.
This initiative aims to transform dormant institutional Bitcoin reserves into assets capable of securely generating on-chain returns, supported by Ginco’s enterprise-grade wallet infrastructure and Babylon’s Trustless BTC Vault technology.
2. Vision for Collaboration: Pioneering Trustless Bitcoin Finance (BTCFi 2.0)
The shared objective of the partnership is to explore the technical and operational foundations of Trustless Bitcoin Finance, a model where Bitcoin can participate in staking, lending, and on-chain financial activities without:
• entrusting assets to custodians
• relying on intermediaries
• introducing bridge or counterparty risk
Before live services are deployed, Babylon and Ginco will jointly conduct focused research into how Trustless BTC Vaults can be integrated into Japan’s institutional ecosystem.
This groundwork establishes a path toward institution-grade native BTC utilization.
3. Combined Strengths: Babylon’s Trustless Innovation Meets Japan’s Institutional Infrastructure
The partnership brings together two complementary capabilities.
Babylon Labs
Developer of the Trustless BTC Vault Protocol, enabling Bitcoin holders to utilize BTC in decentralized finance while maintaining self-custody through cryptographic enforcement based on pre-signed transactions and BitVM-style proofs.
Ginco Inc.
Operator of the Ginco Enterprise Wallet (GEW), Japan’s leading self-custodial enterprise wallet trusted by exchanges, financial institutions, and corporates. Ginco provides regulated digital-asset infrastructure built to meet institutional and compliance standards.
Together, Babylon and Ginco will explore how Trustless BTCFi infrastructure can be safely and efficiently adopted across Japan’s institutional market.
4. Expected Impact: Secure Storage Meets Productive Utilization
The collaboration aims to deliver a compelling value proposition to institutional BTC holders.
Secure Institutional Storage Paired With Trustless On-Chain Utility
Institutions will be able to:
• store Bitcoin within Ginco’s verified enterprise custody environment
• access Babylon’s Trustless BTC staking and future BTCFi functions directly within GEW
• avoid intermediaries and third-party managers
• generate yield or collateral utility without bridge or counterparty risks
This enables transparent, verifiable, self-custodial participation in Bitcoin-native finance, a significant step forward for regulated markets such as Japan.
5. Next Steps: Research, Integration, and Institutional Enablement
Both organizations are currently focusing on:
• deriving operational business models
• integrating Trustless BTC Vault functionality directly into GEW
• establishing Ginco’s participation as a Babylon Finality Provider
• enabling GEW support for BTC staking, BABY staking, and BTC plus BABY co-staking
• evaluating interfaces for future Trustless BTCFi use cases including trustless lending
Commercial timelines will be communicated following research progress and regulatory alignment.
The long-term vision is to introduce a robust institutional BTCFi infrastructure tailored to Japan’s enterprise market.
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