SBI to buy Bitbank for $289m, forming Japan’s top crypto exchange

SBI Holdings will acquire full control of Tokyo-based crypto exchange Bitbank for ¥46.7 billion ($289 million). The deal will be carried out by SBI’s wholly owned unit SBICAH, which will buy shares from Bitbank CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other shareholders and then subscribe to a third-party share allotment. Bitbank will repurchase stakes held by MIXI and Ceres, leaving SBI with 100% indirect ownership. The transaction is expected to close around October, subject to regulatory approval.

SBI said the acquisition will expand its regulated exchange operations and increase its customer base. Management plans to integrate Bitbank with SBI VC Trade to consolidate custody services and accounts and to use the combined platform to distribute stablecoins, tokenized securities and other on-chain financial products.

Combining Bitbank with SBI VC Trade would give the group about ¥1.1 trillion in assets under custody and roughly 2.92 million crypto accounts based on end-April figures. Those figures would place SBI first among Japanese exchanges by custody assets and among the largest by account count.

Market data show Bitbank’s daily trading volume has remained below $50 million for most of the past four months. Trading has been concentrated in yen pairs, with BTC/JPY accounting for about 39.5% of volume and XRP/JPY and ETH/JPY each near 19.7%.

The purchase follows recent projects by SBI to build digital-asset infrastructure. In February the company and Startale Group introduced Strium, a layer-1 blockchain designed for continuous trading and settlement of tokenized equities and real-world assets. SBI and Startale later launched a yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYSC, issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and distributed through SBI VC Trade; transfers are initially limited to accounts on that exchange while outstanding legal and tax issues are addressed. On the same day the group launched a dollar-backed stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), distributed via SBI VC Trade after receiving approval under Japan’s framework for foreign-issued stablecoins.

The Bitbank purchase remains subject to approval by Japanese regulators and customary closing conditions. If completed, SBI will consolidate two regulated exchanges within its group and increase its custody and account footprint in Japan’s crypto market.