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SBI Holdings has agreed to acquire Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank in a ¥46.7 billion deal, worth about $289 million, as the financial group expands its digital asset business.
The transaction would make Bitbank a wholly owned SBI subsidiary and give the group about ¥1.1 trillion in crypto assets under custody when combined with SBI VC Trade.
SBICAH Will Acquire Bitbank Shares
SBI said its board approved a basic agreement and share transfer agreement on June 25. The acquisition will be carried out through SBICAH GK, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings.
SBICAH will acquire Bitbank shares from founder and CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other individual shareholders.
The transaction also involves MIXI and Ceres, two of Bitbank’s largest corporate shareholders. SBI’s disclosure lists Hirosue with 30.86% of Bitbank, MIXI with 26.22% and Ceres with 22.39%.
August Transfer Starts Closing Process
SBI plans to execute the share transfer around August 2026. Bitbank will then raise capital through a third-party allotment to SBICAH and use the funds to acquire treasury shares held by MIXI and Ceres.
The capital increase, treasury share acquisition and full transaction closing are planned for around October 2026.
The deal still needs clearance under Japan Fair Trade Commission business combination review. SBI said the transaction is expected to have only a minor impact on its consolidated results for the fiscal year ending March 2027.
Custody Would Reach ¥1.1T
SBI said the combination of SBI VC Trade and Bitbank would give the group about ¥1.1 trillion in crypto assets under custody, based on figures as of April 30. The companies would also have about 2.92 million crypto asset accounts.
SBI said that would rank the group first among domestic crypto exchange service providers by assets under custody and among the top operators by account count. Bitbank said existing services will continue as usual during the acquisition process. Customers can keep using the exchange while the deal moves through its closing steps.
SBI VC Trade and Bitbank Would Combine
The Bitbank deal adds another regulated Japanese exchange to SBI’s crypto business after its earlier push through SBI VC Trade. SBI said it wants to use Bitbank’s customer base, service development, security systems, compliance framework and management resources across the group.
The next steps are JFTC review, the planned August share transfer and the expected October closing. If completed, Bitbank will become part of SBI’s regulated crypto exchange business as the group builds a larger digital asset platform in Japan.
