SBI Holdings is a financial services group with businesses spanning securities, banking, insurance, asset management and venture investments with a market capitalization of approximately $11 billion. The Tokyo-based company is one of Japan’s most active traditional finance players in digital assets, with holdings and partnerships in cryptocurrency trading, liquidity, tokenization, stablecoins and blockchain-based settlement.
Bitbank is one of the largest licensed cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, offering spot trading, custody, and other digital asset services to retail and institutional clients.
Cheaper, faster to buy
Cryptocurrency mergers and acquisitions have remained dynamic in 2026 as banks, payments companies and exchanges rush to build regulated digital asset businesses rather than developing them in-house.
The industry has recorded 144 deals worth $11.8 billion so far this year, according to data from Architect Partners, with buyers increasingly turning to exchanges, custody providers, data companies and stablecoin infrastructure as regulatory clarity attracts more institutional capital to the sector.
According to Payne, the Bitbank acquisition is about more than customer growth. The deal includes a Financial Services Agency-licensed exchange, one of Japan’s deepest altcoin liquidity pools, and an institutional custody business, Japan Digital Asset Trust, providing SBI with capabilities that would be much more expensive and time-consuming to build internally.
The acquisition comes at a crucial time for Japan’s crypto industry. Legislation passed by the country’s lower house on June 11 would move crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, aligning them with securities regulation. The reforms reduce the tax rate on crypto profits to 20% and pave the way for spot bitcoin. ether (ETH) and XRP exchange-traded funds, while imposing stricter capital, custody and disclosure requirements on exchanges.
