SBI Holdings completes $289 million acquisition of Bitbank

SBI Holdings has completed its acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. The transaction, valued at approximately ¥46.7 billion ($289 million), was finalized on October 1 following a multi-stage process that included the repurchase of shares held by Bitbank’s largest corporate backers, MIXI and Ceres.

The acquisition positions SBI as the leader among Japanese exchanges by custodied assets. The combined entity is expected to hold roughly ¥1.1 trillion ($7 billion) in custody across approximately 2.92 million accounts. Bitbank brings a Financial Services Agency license, yen-quoted altcoin liquidity, and various custody and lending services to SBI’s existing crypto operations.

Bitbank will continue to operate under CEO Noriyuki Hirosue, who will remain as representative director, president, and CEO, while also taking a seat as an outside director at SBI VC Trade. The company stated that the change in ownership will not affect existing services for its roughly 960,000 registered users.