Japan’s Big Bet: Bitcoin, NFTs & 3D-Printed Homes

Bitcoin (BTC +1.17%) price may have taken a dip, but BTC accumulation mania is not showing any signs of slowing down, at least not yet.

The trend that was started and then perpetuated by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR +8.2%), which currently holds 629,376 BTC or almost 3% of Bitcoin’s total supply, has prompted tons of public and private companies to take up this strategy to accumulate Bitcoin in order to protect as well as grow their capital.

Bitcoin’s adoption as a treasury asset by companies is primarily being led by the US-based entities, with their number surpassing 100. The US is followed by Canada and the UK at 43 and 20, respectively.

With 10 entities each, Japan and Germany have also made their way into the top countries with the largest number of entities becoming Bitcoin treasury companies.

Just earlier this week, Japan-based Lib Work Co. joined these ranks by announcing its plans to acquire Bitcoin for its corporate treasury. While a non-crypto native company, Lib Work isn’t exactly new to the world of cryptocurrency.

Just last month, it launched an NFT-backed 3D printed real-estate project. So, the firm is using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to store the digital blueprints of its house.  It said:

“By creating NFTs for 3D printed houses, Lib Work will build new housing distribution mechanisms for investors and users worldwide, actively promoting international brand value and expansion into new markets.”

The company is also using BTC as a payment method for its NFT-backed 3D printed home. By enabling Bitcoin payments, the firm aims to open its revolutionary idea to people all over the globe.

Why Lib Work Is Adding Bitcoin to Its Treasury

On August 18, 2025, Lib Work held a board meeting, which resolved that the company will purchase 500 million Japanese yen worth of Bitcoin, which amounts to about US$3.36 million at the current exchange rate of 148.70.

This accumulation will be made in a series of purchases that will begin in September and continue until December. 

A risk management system, along with an accounting policy, will also be established to ensure safety and transparency. The acquisition, meanwhile, will be carried out using a crypto asset exchange.

The move has been made in response to macroeconomic risks and “to prepare for future growth areas with overseas operators,” the firm noted in the announcement, adding, “our company has decided to adopt a phased approach to acquisition and holding.”

As of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $116,500, down 6.4% from its peak just above $124,000 hit on August 14. At current prices, Lib Work could buy roughly 28 BTC, which would put it at about 105th place on the list of top Bitcoin treasury companies.

The primary reason behind this future purchase is to hedge against Japan’s “inflationary trends”, said the company.

Bitcoin, it noted, has been gaining recognition as “digital gold” in recent years, with companies moving to hold it for the long term. With Lib Work concerned about the “risk of holding assets only in cash,” Bitcoin is seen as the perfect asset to acquire and hold in the balance sheet.

Japan recently reported hotter-than-expected core inflation for July, although it slowed down and has been the lowest since March.

Keeping above the central bank’s 2% target, the elevated inflation has the market expecting the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to hike interest rates again in the coming months. Just earlier this year, the central bank raised short-term interest rates to 0.5% after exiting a decade-long, massive stimulus last year on the view that the 2% inflation target would be hit.

As a result, the Japanese Yen (JPY) continues to lose ground against the firmer US Dollar (USD). While currently around 149, USD/JPY has come down from its peak above 161 hit in July 2024.

A rate hike by BOJ could further help send USD/JPY lower. However, that can make risky assets like crypto less attractive. 

With rates low, investors tend to borrow cheap fiat and then invest it in higher-yielding assets like stocks, treasury bonds, equities, and crypto. An increase in rates, however, makes doing this expensive, forcing investors to unwind those positions. Crypto and other risky assets are sold to repay the loans.

Overall, though, as the value of cash continues to erode and inflation rises, Bitcoin is offering the perfect play to protect wealth. 

Inside Lib Work’s 3D-Printed Earth Homes

Founded in 1997, Lib Work is a Japan-based company that was formerly known as SK Home Co. It was listed on the Fukuoka Stock Exchange in 2015 and then four years later on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Section.

The company changed its name to Lib Work Inc. with an aim to grow from being a business that sells houses online to one that creates lifestyles.

It is primarily involved in the detached residential business. The firm sells detached homes and real estate using the internet and virtual reality (VR). Interestingly, it sells 3D printed houses.

3D printing or additive manufacturing involves constructing a three-dimensional object from a digital 3D model. It is simply a process of building a layer of materials using a digital file to create 3D parts or a complete object.

In construction, 3D printing allows firms to print structures through concrete extrusion. In this form of 3D concrete printing, a nozzle is used to extrude layers of concrete to build complex structures. This can significantly reduce labour costs as well as construction time. It even minimizes waste and improves sustainability.

As Lib Work noted, the construction industry is facing serious labor shortages and rising material costs. Against this backdrop, 3D printed housing has gained worldwide attention as a breakthrough technology to dramatically reduce labor, time, and costs.

The company has already built a prototype of its 3D printing house that combines digital fabrication with soil. That’s right, no cement is being used, but naturally derived materials mixed with soil.  Notably, Lib Work’s Lib Earth House dissolves back into the earth.

Built with the idea of ‘house of the future’, it is made completely from a cement-free mix of earth, lime, and natural fibres. These materials are biodegradable, renewable, and found in abundance on Earth. The soil-based mix is a custom solution that is shaped using 3D printing tech, giving the company more flexibility and design freedom. Lib Work explained:

“In order to make the most of these materials, we have developed a unique compounding technology that achieves the strength and workability required for a building material. It is a new option that supports sustainable architecture.“

This prototype is the latest iteration, built upon earlier models, achieving fivefold more structural strength than the Model A, which used some cement while reducing CO2 emissions by 50% during production.

Lib Work finished construction on its first 3D-printed earth home in Japan’s Yamaga, Kumamoto, last month. For the home, the firm also utilized AI tech right from design through construction. It was, as Lib Work said, “uncharted territory where tradition and convention offered no guide.”

The 1,076-sq-ft single-story light-filled home with its modern decor was built with the help of Arup and WASP. 

“By using local soil for on-site material production, and by making all components easily removable, separable, and reusable/recyclable, we aim to provide reusable architecture that produces no waste when demolished. Together with Lib Work, we hope to continue to provide architectural solutions that contribute to achieving a recycling-centered society.”

– Arup

Italian 3D-printing manufacturer WASP (World’s Advanced Saving Project) supplied the 3D printer for the building. The printer was used to extrude the custom mixture in layers while following the blueprint. The finished structure was then turned into a home by human workers who added the glazing, roof, doors, and everything else.

Lib Work’s idea “fuses minimal design with organic inspiration, creating an aesthetic sensibility reminiscent of the Japanese ‘kintsugi‘ philosophy that celebrates uniqueness and the beauty of natural materials,“ said Wasp.

The house runs an off-the-grid energy system with solar panels and Tesla’s Powerwall battery storage, while smart devices like lighting, bath, and air conditioning are controlled by a dedicated device like a smartphone.

While construction is done, the testing will continue for insulation performance, condensation, and durability. For this, sensors are embedded in the walls that also measure any structural degradation.

Ultimately, the goal of Lib Work is to construct 10,000 such units by 2040 by automating the entire construction. 

“Our envisioned future is not about building the same houses faster but designing and optimizing the most suitable housing for each individual—accessible housing for everyone.“

– AI development partner, Maket Technologies.

For its Lib Earth House Model B, the firm is also utilizing the protection of NFTs. Because 3D-printed houses rely on digital design files, securing the rights to those files and properly managing their licenses is critical, Lib Work explained. The company added that combining 3D printing with digital asset management could help break past the limits of conventional construction and open up new global housing markets tied to the metaverse and Web3 era.

How Lib Work Uses NFTs to Secure Home Blueprints

While construction is one of the most critical issues, an emerging challenge in the housing industry is ensuring the ownership history and authenticity of the property, as well as the intellectual property (IP) management of the building and the digital design data. This is where NFTs come into the picture. 

An NFT or non-fungible token is a unique digital asset that represents ownership of an item, ranging from art, collectables, memes, videos, and music to virtual goods and virtual real estate. Unlike cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether, which are fungible, meaning interchangeable, NFTs are one-of-a-kind, serving as a digital certificate for these items, like art.

Being a unique digital identifier that is recorded on blockchain’s decentralized public ledger, NFTs are used to certify ownership and authenticity. 

NFTs can also be used to offer additional benefits to their holders, such as exclusive access to events, premium content, special discounts, early product releases, revenue-sharing opportunities, voting rights, gated online communities, or even real-world perks like concert tickets, travel experiences, and brand partnerships.

Lib Work, in particular, is utilizing NFTs to represent its new revolutionary 3D printed home, Lib Earth House Model B.

As the firm noted, with blockchain technology and NFTs expanding beyond art into real estate and IP sectors, they offer the perfect solution.

By issuing its digital design as NFTs, the firm aims to protect the IP. The NFT, after all, will act as an ownership certificate linked to the physical house. The verifiable record of NFT ownership will help prevent unauthorized use of the items, including licenses, thus preventing the theft of blueprints and protecting IP value.

NFTs will also allow Lib Work to manage and verify transactions and ownership of housing models and blueprints in a decentralized and secure manner, resulting in a more open housing market.

Moreover, storing and managing the ID, history, and ownership information of each house on the blockchain ensures traceability for buyers.

According to the firm, ensuring the one-of-a-kind nature of the home further enhances the value of the asset and its brand. This especially holds true in Japan, where digitalization in the construction industry is slow. Here, NFTs offer high utility in terms of centralized history, rights visualization, and blueprint management.

But that’s not all, the housing industry, as Lib Work noted, traditionally faces challenges related to liquidity and transparency. And by combining digital and blockchain technologies, these challenges can be overcome, it believes. Not to mention, this will create new international housing markets for the metaverse and Web3 era.

This development, Lib Work noted, marks the first for not just Japan but also the world that brings two advanced technologies together, the 3D printed architecture and decentralized digital NFT technology, serving as a standard for redefining housing.

Combined with BTC payment, “this creates a framework where unique homes and their designs can circulate as assets worldwide, with designers, owners, and history transparently and authentically verified at all times,“ said Lib Work.

The idea is to become a pioneer in next-generation digital housing distribution, opening new pathways for global housing markets.

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Japan’s Crypto Comeback: Policy Moves and Corporate Adoption

Lib Work’s actions show that Japan is making a lot of technological progress, especially in crypto.

The nation had a tumultuous crypto journey. Over a decade ago, it housed the largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, which was hacked and lost 7% of the total Bitcoin supply. Then, in 2018, Coincheck suffered a hack of $534 million, while DMM Bitcoin’s North Korea-affiliated hack in 2024 resulted in a loss of $305 million. All these events hit the nation hard. 

While Japan was the first major economy to recognize Bitcoin as a legal payment method as early as 2017, the hacks led regulators to impose strict restrictions that resulted in its local crypto market lagging behind other regions.

But things are changing. In March this year, Reuters reported that Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is planning to revise its laws to give crypto assets a legal status as financial products.

Japan is currently considering reducing capital gains tax on digital assets from 55% to 20%, to match the rules applied to stock and forex.

While lowered taxes would make crypto more attractive to retail investors, institutions are already choosing the safety of Bitcoin. One prominent example is Tokyo-listed Metaplanet Inc., which is currently holding a total of 18,888 BTC, making it the 7th largest publicly-listed company in the world to hold Bitcoin and the largest one in Asia. 

The end goal of Metaplanet is to hold 100,000 BTC by 2026. The hotel operator pivoted to the Bitcoin treasury firm last year and appointed the US President’s son, Eric Trump, as a strategic adviser in March this year. The younger Trump is reportedly planning to attend a shareholder meeting of Metaplanet on September 1, during which company shareholders are set to vote on new capital raising methods.

Other Japanese Bitcoin buyers include NEXON (1,717 BTC), Remixpoint (1,232 BTC), Anap Holdings (1,006 BTC), Convano (365 BTC), and SBC Medical Group Holdings (66 BTC).

Meanwhile, Japanese financial firms like Mizuho and MUFG have been investing in cryptocurrency exchanges and launching crypto investment products to make the sector more accessible to mainstream investors. 

For instance, asset manager SBI Holdings has partnered with Franklin Templeton to launch Bitcoin ETFs demonetically, another coalition was formed by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Nomura for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and Japan’s second-largest bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), has partnered with Ava Labs and Fireblocks to launch a stablecoin issuance platform.

It was the updated Payment Services Act, effective June 2023, that opened the door for licensed entities to issue stablecoins in the local market. This year, Circle’s USDC obtained approval from the FSA as the first global dollar-backed stablecoin.

Now this week, Japanese fintech firm JPYC has announced that it will issue the first stablecoin pegged to the yen soon.

“Initially, we expect demand to come from institutional investors, hedge funds, and family offices in Japan. Eventually, we aim to have JPYC used overseas as digital yen and delivered to people across the world.”

– CEO Noritaka Okabe

FSA is expected to approve the issuance of the stablecoin as early as autumn. The agency is also planning a major reorganization next year, which will include creating a new bureau to oversee emerging financial services, including digital assets.

As Japan’s regulatory landscape evolves and corporate adoption of Bitcoin rises, Lib Work is showing a glimpse into how the digital economy is merging with the physical world. Together, Bitcoin, NFTs, and 3D printing represent a new foundation for how value and ownership will be built and exchanged in the future.

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