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Japanese construction firm LibWork Co. has become the latest public company to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury asset.

On Monday, its board of directors approved the purchase of ¥500 million ($3.4 million) worth of Bitcoin, marking another milestone in Asia’s growing wave of corporate adoption.

LibWork Develops 3D Printer House NFT

LibWork, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth and Fukuoka Q-Board under ticker 1431, said the purchase serves as a hedge against domestic inflation and an entry point into emerging digital markets. The company plans to acquire Bitcoin gradually between September and December 2025 through a trusted exchange, aiming to mitigate risk.

In its announcement, the firm described Bitcoin as “digital gold,” emphasizing that holding only cash and deposits exposes balance sheets to inflationary erosion. Management pledged to strengthen risk management, apply transparent accounting standards, and mark holdings to market each quarter. Any significant impacts on earnings would be disclosed promptly.

The company also tied the purchase to its broader innovation strategy. LibWork is developing a “3D printer house NFT” project, which converts architectural design data into NFTs to protect intellectual property and issues ownership certificates linked to physical homes. The initiative aims to improve transparency and liquidity in housing markets. Bitcoin reserves, executives said, align with this effort to integrate blockchain technologies into core business operations.

Corporate Bitcoin Trend in Asia

LibWork’s decision reflects a broader trend among Asian corporations. According to K33 Research, the number of public companies globally holding Bitcoin doubled in the first half of 2025, rising from 70 to 134 and collectively acquiring 244,991 BTC. Eight of those firms were Japanese, signaling the country’s growing presence in this movement.

Japanese corporations have increasingly framed Bitcoin as a defensive asset and a diversification tool. BeInCrypto has reported that rising inflation pressures and the desire to strengthen their financial foundations drive boardroom decisions.

The momentum extends across Asia. In August, the Financial Times reported that American Bitcoin, a US miner backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is exploring acquisitions in Japan and Hong Kong to create MicroStrategy-style treasury companies. Meanwhile, Amina Group estimates that public companies worldwide now hold more than 962,000 BTC, valued at over $110 billion.

The BitMEX Blog has highlighted how treasury companies typically operate: they sign advisory agreements with specialized managers, raise funds in public markets, and deploy proceeds into Bitcoin. This structure appeals to investors by outsourcing custody and trading, but also introduces risks. Governance, leverage, and accounting practices vary widely.

BitMEX also warned about potential conflicts of interest:

Japan’s Market Response

Despite accelerating corporate adoption, retail participation in Japan remains muted. A survey by the Cornell Bitcoin Club, cited by DocumentingBTC, found that 88% of Japanese residents have never owned Bitcoin.

At the same time, BeInCrypto reported that Japanese firms such as Metaplanet and Remixpoint continue to expand their BTC holdings even during market pullbacks. This demonstrates how treasury strategies are gaining traction at the corporate level, even as consumer adoption lags.

LibWork’s Hybrid Being Watched

LibWork’s move underscores how Japanese firms are beginning to integrate digital assets into financial strategy. Domestic inflation and shifting regulatory debates add urgency to these decisions. Japan’s Financial Services Agency is reviewing whether corporate crypto holdings should be treated under securities law, while APEC member states have called for stronger governance frameworks across digital finance.

The key question is how LibWork executes its hybrid model — blending construction, NFTs, and Bitcoin reserves — and how investors will evaluate the strategy. Its success or failure could set a precedent for other Japanese corporations considering similar moves.

Earlier today, VanEck issued its Mid-August 2025 Bitcoin ChainCheck, analyzing a lot of key data points in BTC’s performance. The firm claims that the token will reach $180,000 by the end of the year.

It pointed to several trends to help justify this bullish claim. Institutional investment seems to be the biggest point in favor of growth, but there seems to be a lack of real downsides at the moment.

VanEck’s Bitcoin Prediction

VanEck, a key crypto ETF issuer, has a long track record of researching various market trends and drawing important conclusions about possible price trajectories. A few months ago, it cast a rosy future for Bitcoin, and VanEck is reiterating its prediction that BTC will reach $180,000 in 2025:

So, why is VanEck so confident that Bitcoin is a good investment? Its Mid-August 2025 “ChainCheck” looks at several core data points.

Crunching the Numbers

The firm notes that BTC’s recent all-time high came at a good time, as 92% of on-chain holdings were already profitable before the momentary spike.

Similarly, surging corporate investment has kept BTC in shape, even when Ethereum is attracting a ton of institutional inflows. VanEck claimed that Strategy’s steady commitment has encouraged waves of new interest in Bitcoin.

This pattern repeats in several areas of analysis. There’s an apparent setback, but it isn’t actually a serious problem. For example, BTC’s onchain dominance lost a lot of ground to ETH, in part because Ordinals usage collapsed.

Nonetheless, VanEck doesn’t see this as a serious problem for Bitcoin, as corporate capital is keeping volatility low.

BTC mining difficulty reached an all-time high last month, but mining revenues are still soaring. VanEck called special attention to TeraWulf’s partial pivot away from Bitcoin, but didn’t list this as a negative either.

The US mining sector is taking up a greater share of the global hashrate as the market consolidates.

Still, there are a few things to worry about. VanEck noted that corporate Bitcoin treasuries could become the trigger for a larger downturn. If BTC volatility remains low for an extended period, it could compromise their ability to raise capital for future purchases. In turn, this might amplify negative price motions.

In the main, though, VanEck’s predictions are very optimistic.

Over the past week, Michael Saylor’s Strategy purchased another 430 bitcoin for $51.4 million, funded primarily by new stock issuances. The move comes just weeks after Saylor said the firm would not further dilute its equity unless shares traded below 2.5 times the value of its Bitcoin holdings, outside of paying debt interest and preferred equity dividends.

However, the firm already appears to be relaxing that constraint, adding a byline that Strategy may offer new shares "when otherwise deemed advantageous to the company" when its market Net Asset Value (mNAV) is below 2.5x. For reference, Strategy will “actively issue MSTR” to buy BTC when mNAV is above 4x “opportunistically” sell shares when it’s between 2.5x and 4x.

To Strategy bears like Jim Chanos, this may appear hypocritical; though to other analysts, this simply appears to be an apt reallocation of priorities given market conditions and future prospects. In a client note on Monday, TD Cowan calls Strategy "a new kind of firm" that "converts market appetite for volatility and return – on an effectively leveraged basis – into Bitcoin."

"What started as a defensive strategy to protect the value of its reserve assets has become an opportunistic strategy intended to accelerate the creation of shareholder value," TD's analysts wrote. "Strategy intends to continue acquiring and holding bitcoins via proceeds of debt and equity offerings."

Notably, the analysts point to the fact that Strategy isn't directly issuing its common MSTR stock, but instead its preferred share, a class of assets meant to give the firm flexibility in how it raises funds. The past week’s purchases, for instance, were "funded primarily" by about $19 million worth of STRK preferred stock; $18 million worth of STRF preferred stock, and $12 million worth of STRD preferred stock.

The firm is holding its price target steady at $680, on the prediction that by the end of 2027, Strategy will have accumulated 4.3% of Bitcoin’s total supply — i.e., 900,000 coins — and that bitcoin will have reached a price of $232,000. For reference, MSTR is trading at $363, while bitcoin is sitting above $116,000.

Not only that, TD Cowen seems to be pricing in other potentially bullish catalysts, like MSTR possibly being added to the S&P 500 index, increasing clarity around bitcoin tax obligations, and progress in cloud technology, which was once Strategy’s core business and remains a revenue generator.

Further, not even the growing competition of copycat bitcoin treasuries — like Tether-backed Twenty One Capital or David Bailey’s Nakamoto — is much of a challenge. The analysts estimate there are around 160 such firms, some of which could become viable investment vehicles over the coming 12 months.

"To be clear, we view the proliferation of PBTCs as unequivocally bullish for Strategy," they write. "Benefits of additional new entrants will in our opinion likely include further legitimization of the PBTC model, deeper pools of debt and equity capital available to the PBTC space, increased demand for bitcoin, improved accounting standards, and broader adoption of bitcoin and blockchain technologies throughout the traditional financial community."

Earlier this month, Strategy posted positive quarterly earnings showing record net income of $10 billion and a boosted "BTC $ Gain" metric of $20 billion from $15 billion. The firm holds over 3% of the total bitcoin supply.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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