SBI Holdings, Japan’s largest financial services conglomerate, has agreed to acquire CRYPTOCURRENCY exchange Bitbank for approximately ¥46.7 billion (~$289 million) through its investment arm SBICAH GK, in a deal that would merge Bitbank with SBI’s existing crypto unit SBI VC Trade to create Japan’s largest regulated crypto exchange operator by assets under custody, projecting ¥1.1 trillion in custody across 2.92 million crypto accounts, surpassing incumbents bitFlyer and Coincheck. The deal, expected to close around October 2026, subject to Japan Fair Trade Commission clearance, gives SBI a second FSA-registered exchange alongside a clean JVCEA compliance record, deep altcoin liquidity, and a strong institutional custody business hard to build from scratch. The acquisition was announced the same day SBI launched JPYSC, Japan’s first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin, and completed a co-launch of Ripple’s RLUSD dollar stablecoin in Japan, which is building toward a full integrated stack of exchange trading, custody, and stablecoin payments.
SBI Holdings to Buy Crypto Exchange Bitbank for $289m
