Exclusive: Crypto startup ZBD raises $40 million to power video game payments

ZBD, a New Jersey–based Bitcoin payments startup, raised $40 million in a Series C round led by Blockstream Capital, which contributed $36 million. The company, which has 70 employees and worked with 55 mobile games in 2025, provides in-game payments rails enabling Bitcoin and other crypto payouts and intends to use the funding to expand its payments product suite; the business is not yet profitable and declined to disclose revenue or valuation. The raise signals continued venture interest in crypto payments infrastructure for games even as broader blockchain gaming adoption lags.

Analysis

Market structure: ZBD’s raise and focus on Bitcoin payouts most directly benefits crypto custody/exchange (on/off‑ramp) providers and payment‑rail layer‑2 vendors, and creates a modest new revenue pool for niche payments infrastructure versus incumbents (Visa, MA, Stripe). Incumbent card networks retain scale and pricing power for fiat rails; ZBD’s impact is likely local (mobile games, 55 titles in 2025) not systemic, implying incremental BTC transactional demand (low single‑digit % of BTC daily volume) rather than a substitution shock. Cross‑asset: expect slightly higher crypto flows and spot BTC volatility (near term), negligible sovereign bond or commodity impact, and modest FX/USD settlement flow to stablecoin corridors.

Risk assessment: tail risks include regulatory bans on crypto payouts, AML/KYC enforcement fines, and custodial hacks that could wipe counterparty trust—each could trigger >50% revenue loss for startups like ZBD. Immediate (days/weeks): PR and partner announcements move sentiment; short term (3–12 months): product rollout and merchant wins drive revenue; long term (1–3 years): network effects only if major publishers or app stores accept crypto rails. Hidden dependencies: reliance on custodians, Lightning/Layer‑2 scaling, and bank partnerships for fiat settlement; catalysts include an App Store policy change or a marquee publisher pilot.

Trade implications: implement small, asymmetric exposure to payments and crypto infra: buy exchange exposure (COIN) and merchant processors (V, MA) via call spreads and LEAPS while keeping total portfolio weight modest (1–3%). Use BITO or other Bitcoin futures ETF options for tactical exposure to expected higher BTC volatility around product rollouts (0.5–1% notional). Trim high‑beta pure web3 gaming equities/tokens that priced NFT adoption (reduce by 30–50%) and rotate into payments infra stocks and custody names.

Contrarian angle: consensus views ‘crypto gaming’ as dead, but payments is a stealth adoption vector — merchant rails adoption is slow but sticky once integrated; the market is underpricing custody/merchant wins. Overdone reactions: selling all gaming‑adjacent infra; underdone: premium to custody/custodian stocks if on/off ramps scale. Historical parallel: PayPal/early digital wallets took 5–7 years to meaningfully alter payments — expect multi‑year adoption, not immediate disruption.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Establish a 1.5% portfolio long position in Coinbase (COIN) over 6–12 months to capture increased on/off‑ramp flow; add on a confirmed quarter‑over‑quarter rise in crypto merchant volumes of >15%; hard stop loss at −30%.
• Buy a 9–12 month bull call spread on Visa (V) sized at 1% portfolio to capture merchant payment volume re‑rating (target 20–35% return); close if V underperforms the XLF sector by >10% over 3 months.
• Allocate 0.5–1% to short‑dated (30–90 day) calls on BITO or buy call options on BITO to tactically capture near‑term BTC volatility around ZBD product rollouts or major partnership announcements; limit max premium to 0.5% portfolio.
• Trim exposure to pure‑play web3/gaming equities by 30–50% (redeploy proceeds into custody/merchant names above) within 30 days; specifically reduce high‑beta NFT/gaming token positions first, and reallocate toward PYPL, MA, or V.
• Monitor regulatory catalysts: track FinCEN/SEC guidance and Apple/Google app‑store policy updates over the next 60–90 days; do not increase positions >1% additional weight until a major publisher or app‑store policy favorable to crypto payouts is announced.