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DeFimans Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Co-founders: Mitsushi Ono and Taishi Sato; hereinafter referred to as “DeFimans”) co-hosted the event “ Bitcoin Staking & Institutional Custody” on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, together with Next Finance Tech(Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Co-CEOs: Soichiro Tokuriki and Shinya Tsuchida).
Event Overview
The event brought together leading players from domestic and international financial institutions, CEXs, web3 projects, custody providers, VCs, and institutional investors.
With sponsors and media partners in attendance, the venue welcomed around 100 participants and the atmosphere was vibrant and engaging.
Opening Session
The event was moderated by DeFimans Co-founder Mitsushi Ono.
The opening remarks featured introductions of the organizers—DeFimans and Next Finance Tech—as well as the title sponsor, Babylon Labs.
Following this, representatives of the sponsor companies took the stage.
A ceremonial toast and commemorative photo session set a warm and welcoming tone for the evening.
Sponsor Introductions
Sponsor companies then introduced their businesses:
Zaif CEO, Takuya Oshima (represented by Ms. Kitano)
SBI Zodia Custody CEO, Koichi Kano
Rootstock APAC Ecosystem Lead, Ron Tan
Utila Head of APAC, Jonathan Sam
BIMA Founder and CEO, Sid Sridhar
Cradle Business Development Director, Miguel
DSRV Head of Business Development, Michelle Choi
Babylon Keynote
Beyond Staking: Making Bitcoin Fully Productive Through Trustless Vault
Babylon Co-Founder Fisher delivered the keynote, introducing the newly released white paper “Trustless Bitcoin Vault.”
Fisher pointed out that while Bitcoin excels as a store of value, it has limited utility. With Babylon’s staking protocol, Bitcoin can now be used as a truly “productive asset.”
He explained that the Trustless Vault enables native BTC to participate in DeFi without wrapping or bridging, while also connecting to existing lending protocols.
“Currently, less than 1% of BTC is engaged in DeFi,” Yu said. “This system opens the door to a future where all BTC can be utilized.” He urged participants to “build new financial products based on Bitcoin together.”
Panel Discussion 1
BTC DeFi Ecosystem
Moderator ：Mitsushi Ono（DeFimans, Co-founder）
Speaker ：Jing Xiong（Solv, CBO）
Speaker ：Luke Xie（SatLayer, Co-founder & CEO）
Speaker ：Miguel（Cradle, Business Development Director）
Speaker ：Ron Tan（Rootstock, APAC Ecosystem Lead）
Speaker ：Michelle Choi（DSRV, Head of Business Development）
The panel discussed why BTC DeFi is gaining attention, the roles of each company, and prospects for the future.
Speakers highlighted expansion opportunities compared to Ethereum, the potential of BTC as a collateral asset, and diverse use cases such as lending and insurance. The audience listened attentively to the concrete examples shared.
Panel Discussion 2
Innovations in Custody
Moderator ：Mitsushi Ono（DeFimans, Co-founder）
Speaker ：Takuya Oshima（Zaif, CEO）
Speaker ：Koichi Kano（SBI Zodia Custody, CEO）
Speaker ：Jonathan Sam（Utila, Head of APAC）
Speaker ：Sid Sridhar（BIMA, Founder and CEO）
This session focused on the current state and future of crypto custody.
Key themes included the differences and synergies with traditional finance, balancing security and convenience, and the importance of a “security-first” approach.
Each company presented roadmaps including service expansion for both B2C and B2B, operational service offerings, and the development of modular solutions.
Speakers emphasized that custody innovation will enhance industry trust and encourage further investment.
Networking Session
In the latter half, a standing reception with free-flow drinks and a buffet was held, providing ample opportunity for lively exchanges among participants from Japan and abroad.
The session fostered potential cross-industry collaborations, further energizing the evening.
In the web3 industry, where information is a lifeline, DeFimans firmly believes that knowledge sharing and collaboration raise the global standards of the entire ecosystem. We remain committed to strengthening our efforts in organizing and participating in networking events going forward.
Bitcoin Staking & Institutional Custody
Event name ： Bitcoin Staking & Institutional Custody
Date ：2025 Aug 26th, Tuesday 17:30 – 20:30 （17:00 Door open）
Venue ：Togo Kinenkan 1F
Host ：DeFimans・Next Finance Tech
Title Sponsor ：Babylon Labs
Sponsor ：Zaif・SBI Zodia Custody・Rootstock・Solv・Utila・BIMA・Cradle・DSRV・SatLayer
Logo Sponsor ：Halborn・ShareX・B² Network
Media Partner ： Bitcoin.com・WebX
Community Partner ：Kudasai JP
Sponsors
Babylon Labs focuses on Bitcoin security-sharing protocols with a vision of building a Bitcoin-secured decentralized world. The latest software development is the world’s first trustless and self-custodial Bitcoin staking protocol, which enables Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC on other decentralized systems such as PoS chains, L2s, Data Availability (DA) layers, etc, enabling stakers to earn staking rewards without the need for third-party custody, bridge solutions, or wrapping services. The greater idea is to combine the high security and wide adoption of Bitcoin with the efficiency and scalability of PoS systems, increasing Bitcoin’s utility.
Website: https://babylonlabs.io/
X: https://x.com/babylonlabs_io
Telegram: https://t.me/babyloncommunity
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/babylonglobal
Zaif is one of Japan’s longest-running crypto asset exchanges, trusted by users since the early days of Web3. Under the vision “Build Your Wealth with Crypto – Only at Zaif,” we offer beginner-friendly services that are both secure and easy to use. In the first half of 2025, we renewed our large-volume trading service to better meet the needs of institutional and high-volume traders. We are now preparing to launch a Bitcoin staking service in the latter half of the year.
Website: https://zaif.jp
X: https://twitter.com/zaifdotjp
Born out of the partnership of global financial heavyweights SBI and Standard Chartered backed Zodia Custody, we aim to replicate true institutional grade custodial services in the digital asset space.
Website: https://www.sbizodiacustody.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sbi-zodia-custody/
Rootstock is the leading smart contract platform secured by Bitcoin. Merge-mined with over 80% of Bitcoin’s hash rate and powered by RBTC, it enables EVM-compatible DeFi with $250M+ TVL. With over 200 dApps across lending, stablecoins, and swaps, Rootstock brings scalable, secure DeFi to the Bitcoin network.
Website: https://rootstock.io/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rootstock-io/
X: https://x.com/rootstock_io
Solv Protocol powers a $1T Bitcoin finance economy by offering lending, liquid staking, and yield products tailored for BTC. It transforms Bitcoin into a capital-efficient, yield-generating asset, anchoring a Bitcoin-native DeFi ecosystem and enabling holders to unlock utility, generate returns, and participate in programmable, decentralized financial infrastructure.
Links: https://link3.to/solvprotocol
Utila is the secure, all-in-one digital asset operations platform for institutions. Utila enables organizations of all sizes to securely manage and build on digital assets. Utila offers secure MPC wallets, granular policy controls, robust APIs, payments and tokenization engine, and integrations with banking, AML, exchanges, DeFi, and more. Trusted by industry leaders, Utila processes over $10B monthly and has secured $60B+ in transactions—growing rapidly.
Website: https://utila.io/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utila-io/
X: https://x.com/utila_io/
BIMA is a DeFi platform that lets you earn yield on your BTC across multiple chains using USBD, a Bitcoin-backed stablecoin—all while retaining full custody of your Bitcoin.
https://x.com/BimaBT
https://linktr.ee/bimabtc
Cradle is a BTCFi-native DEX built on Babylon Genesis EVM, combining spot and options trading. Supported by Babylon’s early ecosystem efforts, Cradle has been developed to align with its BTC staking infrastructure, offering deep liquidity, competitive APRs, and structured product vaults powered by options strategies. With these features, Cradle aims to contribute to the growth of the Babylon ecosystem and the broader BTCFi movement.
– Webpage: https://cradle.exchange/
– X(Twitter): https://x.com/Cradle_DEX
– Telegram: https://t.me/CradleExchage
DSRV, a leading blockchain infrastructure company, provides A-Z solutions for 160+ institutions through vertical integration of staking, custody, and validators. As the only government-licensed VASP validator in South Korea, DSRV managed $3B in digital assets, operate across 60+ networks, and are preparing for a 2026 IPO.
– Webpage: https://dsrv.com
– X(Twitter): https://x.com/dsrvlabs
– Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/dsrvlabs
The new economy, built on Bitcoin: SatLayer is the economic layer for Bitcoin, making the best asset now fully programmable – it transforms Bitcoin into the global reserve asset for the new financial system that crypto has been laying the foundation for (DeFi, stablecoins, RWA)
Website: https://satlayer.xyz/
Social media: https://x.com/satlayer
Halborn is the industry-leading blockchain solutions firm for enterprise-grade digital assets and trusted by the top financial institutions and Web3 ecosystem leaders.World-class, end-to-end security, from smart contract auditing and pen testing to advisory services and beyond.
Website: https://www.halborn.com/
ShareX is building the financial layer of the shared economy through RWA. By connecting 100+ leading global sharing economy brands, ShareX offers a standardized IRL onboarding toolkit to bring massive real-world devices and usage scenarios on-chain, powering Real-World Actions → Assets → Adoption.
Website: https://www.sharex.network
X: https://x.com/ShareX_Network
B² Network is a modular Bitcoin Scaling solution. It introduces:
– B² Rollup (Layer2, the first Bitcoin rollup based on zero-knowledge proof verification commitment), and B² Hub (Layer1.5, the first Bitcoin Data Availability layer that achieves finality on the Bitcoin network).
– B² Buzz (BTC-Fi product with over $500M+ TVL)
– MiningSquared (The first Bitcoin mining pool offering auto-subscribable BTC yield products)
Website：https://www.bsquared.network/
X：https://x.com/BsquaredNetwork
Media Partner
Bitcoin.com is a global leader in onboarding users to the world of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance. Since 2015, the platform has offered a secure self-custodial wallet, a comprehensive crypto app for buying, selling, trading, and earning, and a robust media arm through Bitcoin.com News—delivering timely and objective coverage of the industry. Bitcoin.com serves as a trusted gateway to crypto and web3 for millions worldwide.
Website: https://www.bitcoin.com/
X: https://x.com/BTCTN
Community Partner
KudasaiJP is the largest cryptocurrency community in Japan, dedicated to promoting the development of blockchain technology and Web3. Its subsidiary Omakase, established in 2024, operates as a Web3 infrastructure provider.
Website: https://kudasai.co.jp
X (Twitter): https://x.com/kudasai_japan
Hosts
DeFimansis a professional team with deep expertise in the web3 domain, including tokenomicsdesign, token financing strategies, blockchain gaming, DeFi, international expansion, and social implementation of blockchain technology.
We provide hands-on support for a wide range of web3 projects, including those by publicly listed companies.
We also provide practical support in planning, developing utilization strategies, and issuing stablecoins.
Co-founders: Mitsushi Ono, Taishi Sato
Location: Toto Building 9F, 5–1–4 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Establishment: July 2022
Businesses：Consulting support related to Talkonomics, DeFi, GameFi and blockchain games, overseas expansion, business strategy, new business development, blockchain social implementation, NFT, dApps, DAO, etc.Hands-on support for fundraising, capital policy, marketing, translation, etc., operation of Messari JAPAN
Website：https://defimans.com/
X：https://twitter.com/DeFimans
Medium：https://medium.com/@DeFimans
contact：info@defimans.com
Next Finance Tech Co., Ltd. is a blockchain infrastructure company based in Japan that provides staking services to corporate clients in Japan and abroad as a node operator. By leveraging our track record as an operator, we offer a wide range of solutions, including the development and operation of crypto asset management systems and consulting services.
Representative: CEO Soichiro Tokuriki, Shinya Tsuchida
Location: 24th Floor, Ark Building, 1-12-32, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Established: May 2021
Business Activities: Validator participation and node operation services, corporate crypto asset reporting services, consulting services, DeFi, ETH staking, BTC staking
Official Website: https://nxt-fintech.com/
X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/nxt_fintech
General Inquiries: support@nxt-fintech.com
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