Gumi swaps power-ups for $BTC: Japanese game studio drops $18.3M crypto fund with SBI 🎮

Japanese game developer Gumi announced Tuesday that it will begin operating a 3 billion yen (about $18.3 million) crypto asset fund on Saturday in partnership with SBI Financial Services and with backing from Daiwa Securities Group and other investors. The fund is operated by SBI Crypto Fund, a joint venture owned 51% by SBI Financial Services and 49% by Gumi subsidiary gC Labs.

According to Gumi's announcement, the fund will invest primarily in Bitcoin and major altcoins, employing staking, portfolio rebalancing and hedging strategies. The company stated that the fund's mission is to bridge Japan's corporate sector and the crypto market while building an operational track record ahead of a possible future lifting of Japan's ban on crypto exchange-traded funds.

The launch extends Gumi's existing crypto operations, which include managing its own holdings centered on XRP, portfolio management services through Hinode Technologies and crypto investment funds. The company's latest annual report shows crypto has become a significant portion of its balance sheet, with 14.13 billion yen in crypto assets held as of April 30, 2026, nearly double the 7.58 billion yen reported a year earlier.

By entering the fund space alongside SBI and Daiwa, Gumi joins a small but growing group of Japanese listed companies allocating corporate capital to digital assets through structured vehicles. The partners have not disclosed the identities of additional investors or the fund's targeted internal rate of return.