Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has officially approved a definitive agreement to acquire crypto exchange Bitbank for ¥46.7 billion ($289 million), marking a significant consolidation move in Japan's digital asset market. According to the latest filing, SBI Holdings Inc entered into the agreement with Bitbank, CEO Noriyuki Hirosue, MIXI, and Ceres to acquire the crypto asset-related business company. The deal was officially disclosed on June 25, 2026, with SBI's board resolving to enter a basic agreement with Bitbank and other shareholders. The acquisition follows earlier talks between SBI Holdings and Bitbank over a capital and business alliance, with SBI expressing interest in bringing Bitbank into the group in May to leverage internal synergies. As reported by crypto.news, the purchase is set to close in October 2026, subject to regulatory approval from the Japan Fair Trade Commission and other standard conditions.
The acquisition will be executed through a phased approach using multiple transaction steps to ensure smooth integration. The first stage will see SBICAH GK, a wholly owned SBI subsidiary, acquire 53,704 Bitbank shares from individual shareholders including CEO Noriyuki Hirosue, with completion planned around August 2026. The second stage involves a third-party allotment of 48,952 new shares to SBICAH around October 2026. After this, Bitbank plans to use the raised capital to buy back shares held by MIXI and Ceres, then retire them as treasury shares. Once all steps close, SBI expects to hold 100% of Bitbank's voting rights on an indirect basis. The transaction cost includes share transfer costs and amounts paid for the planned capital increase, with the closing remaining subject to regulatory review.
The acquisition pushes Japan's crypto exchange market toward deeper consolidation under large financial groups, as reported by CoinMarketCap. The deal combines Bitbank with SBI's existing crypto business, SBI VC Trade, creating Japan's largest crypto asset platform by customer assets custody. According to crypto.news, the combined group would hold approximately ¥1.1 trillion in customer assets under custody and 2.92 million crypto accounts, based on April 30 data from SBI VC Trade and Bitbank. The move comes soon after SBI VC Trade absorbed Bitpoint Japan in April 2026, allowing SBI to combine more crypto exchange resources under one group and reduce overlap across its digital asset businesses. Bitbank adds a larger exchange brand to SBI's crypto footprint, having operated in Japan's regulated crypto market for years with services around spot trading, lending, and crypto-linked payments.
Bitbank ranks among Japan's top 10 largest crypto exchanges by trading activity, according to CoinGecko, with the exchange processing 24-hour volume of just under $50 million. While this places it behind competitors such as Toobit, CoinW, Kraken, and Bitmart who all process in excess of $1 billion, it represents a significant addition to SBI's crypto portfolio. The acquisition comes as Japan moves toward bringing cryptocurrencies under the umbrella of financial products authorized by the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, which could take effect from early next fiscal year. SBI highlighted that Bitbank has maintained zero hacking incidents since its founding, supporting the group's wider plan to build stronger crypto asset services and deepen user trust. The deal brings 570 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in assets under custody and 960,000 customer accounts, significantly expanding SBI's market reach.
According to crypto.news, SBI plans to expand financial services tied to stablecoins and on-chain finance after Bitbank joins the group. The company has already launched Strium, a Layer 1 blockchain built for tokenized securities, foreign exchange and real-world assets, with plans for a regulated yen stablecoin issued by Shinsei Trust & Banking and distributed through SBI VC Trade. SBI has also expanded crypto-linked retail products, partnering with Visa on a card product that lets users earn Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP rewards through SBI VC Trade and Aplus. As reported by Architect Partners, the $289 million acquisition represents a strategic bet on regulated scale rather than near-term profitability, with the valuation of roughly eight times revenue making sense only as a purchase of a regulated market position. The regulatory development could subject crypto businesses to stricter compliance and capital requirements, potentially benefiting large financial groups like SBI.
