Written by: Eric, Foresight News
On June 25, 2026, Japan's SBI Group announced the acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank for ¥46.7 billion (approximately $289 million). This acquisition, expected to be completed in October, will raise the number of user accounts at SBI Group to approximately 2.92 million and the managed assets to about ¥1.1 trillion (approximately $6.8 billion), making it the largest cryptocurrency exchange group in Japan.
As crypto giants in other countries appear as "new generation" players, Japan's SBI, one of the most active companies in the cryptocurrency field, was founded in the same year as Alibaba.
SBI Group was established in July 1999, originally named "SOFTBANK INVESTMENT CORPORATION," affiliated with the SoftBank Group, with its main business focused on investment and incubation. Following Japan's relaxation of financial regulations, it acquired E*TRADE Japan (now the predecessor of SBI SECURITIES) in October of the same year, launching online securities trading services and becoming one of Japan's earliest online brokers.
In 2005, the company changed its name from SOFTBANK INVESTMENT to SBI Holdings, transitioning to a holding company structure, and became fully independent in 2006. According to its official website, SBI has been widely regarded as a pioneer of internet finance in Japan, focusing on "Internet + Financial Innovation" since its inception. The group later positioned itself as a "comprehensive Internet finance group," emphasizing the provision of services such as securities, banking, and insurance through online platforms, creating a "financial supermarket" model.
This company, which ventured into internet finance 27 years ago, has also been involved in blockchain for a long time.
In 2016, SBI entered the blockchain field through cooperation with Ripple, which has continued to this day. In January of that year, both parties reached a preliminary cooperation agreement, with Ripple hoping to expand using SBI's financial network in Asia. Four months later, the partnership was further upgraded, and SBI and Ripple established SBI Ripple Asia Co., Ltd. (SBI holding 60%, Ripple holding 40%). The goal was to introduce RippleNet to Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia for cross-border payments.
In the following seven years, SBI gradually promoted the Ripple-based cross-border payment network, starting from a pilot program, to include regions such as Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In 2023, SBI's subsidiaries began distributing XRP directly to shareholders as returns, a first among listed companies in Japan.
In June 2025, SBI signed a memorandum of understanding with Ripple to distribute the US dollar stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) in Japan through SBI VC Trade. In March of this year, RLUSD was approved by the Japanese Financial Services Agency to serve as a new electronic payment tool, accessible to institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade, supporting use cases such as payments, tokenization, and collateralization. In addition to RLUSD, just a few days ago, SBI also announced the issuance of Japan's first trust-type yen stablecoin JPYSC.
SBI VC Trade, mentioned here, is SBI's main cryptocurrency exchange, which has over 2.9 million accounts and manages approximately $6.8 billion in assets, reaching this scale through years of acquisitions.
In 2020, Binance negotiated with Z Fund, formerly known as Yahoo Japan, hoping to acquire the cryptocurrency exchange TaoTao to enter the Japanese market. After nine months of back-and-forth, the negotiations broke down, but TaoTao quickly announced its integration into VC Trade as a subsidiary of SBI.
Since the acquisition of TaoTao, SBI has entered a wave of acquisitions. By the end of 2024, DMM Bitcoin, which faced operational difficulties due to attacks from North Korean hacker groups, consolidated its customer resources and remaining managed assets into VC Trade. In April of this year, BITPoint Japan, which SBI acquired back in 2023, was incorporated into VC Trade; combined with the recently acquired Bitbank, SBI has built a strong wall of exchanges.
In addition to exchanges, the Web3 media company CoinPost, infrastructure company HashHub, and Singapore exchange Coinhako have all joined the "SBI Ecosystem" or are in discussions for acquisition. Alongside acquisitions, SBI has also invested in well-known Web3 companies including Ripple, Korean exchange Bithumb, RWA tokenization platform Securitize, Kraken, Circle, and others.
The Japanese Web3 ecosystem is relatively closed, and SBI is one of the few multi-business groups with a higher level of internationalization, akin to DCG, the parent company of Grayscale and mining pool Foundry. In addition to its layout in payments and trading, SBI also has the market maker B2C2; provides digital asset trading, management, and custody services through SBI Digital Asset Holdings / SBI Digital Markets; engages in cryptocurrency mining and pool business (sbicrypto pool) through SBI Crypto; moreover, SBI's securities and other departments are also exploring businesses such as cryptocurrency investment trusts, issuing blockchain bonds, and cryptocurrency payment cards.
Besides not engaging in specific Web3 projects, SBI almost covers every aspect of the cryptocurrency industry. As of the time of writing, SBI's market capitalization is ¥1.78 trillion, approximately $11 billion. This market value of tens of billions not only includes cryptocurrency but also encompasses traditional banking, securities, and other businesses. Although its prominence may not match that of Metaplanet, another publicly listed company in Japan, this veteran, which has had nearly thirty years of experience in the financial industry, has firmly seized the dividends of Web3.
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