ZBD, a New Jersey-based Bitcoin payments startup, has secured US$40 million in Series C funding to expand its blockchain-based payment infrastructure focused on the video games and digital apps industry. The funding round was led by Blockstream Capital Partners, which contributed about $36 million, with other investors not publicly disclosed, according to reporting on the deal.
Founded by Simon Cowell, André Neves and Christian Moss, ZBD provides payments software that allows game developers to integrate financial services directly into games, enabling transactions such as peer-to-peer transfers, loyalty rewards and Bitcoin payouts without relying on third-party fintech services. The company’s approach emphasises real-money embedded payments built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, a layer-2 solution that allows fast, low-cost transactions.
The Series C capital will be used to expand ZBD’s payments product suite over the coming year, including rolling out new developer tools, platform upgrades and additional game integrations across mobile, PC and console environments. ZBD has also begun to scale its mobile payouts business and broaden its commercial reach globally, with planned expansion into North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2025, ZBD reported working with around 55 games and processing millions of transactions through its software development kit (SDK), while employing about 70 staff. The company’s model has shown early traction with partners like TapNation, Fumb Games and PlayEmber, which use the infrastructure to deliver rewards in fiat currencies, Bitcoin and gift cards to players.
One notable use case involved integrating Bitcoin rewards via the Lightning Network into TapNation’s mobile game Idle Bank, which reportedly increased 30-day player retention by 355 percent and revenue per player by 124 percent, a sign of how financial incentives can meaningfully impact engagement when integrated directly into gameplay.
ZBD’s strategy diverges from earlier crypto gaming efforts that focused heavily on NFTs and speculative models by concentrating on practical payments infrastructure, an area that has seen clearer adoption. The company positions itself as a full-stack payments provider that gives developers full control over their payments systems, allowing them to embed money movement directly into game experiences rather than routing through external processors.
