SBI Holdings to acquire Bitbank for $289 million

Japan’s SBI Holdings has agreed to acquire the licensed cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank in a deal valued at approximately 46.7 billion yen, or $289 million, a move that will create the country’s largest crypto trading group by assets under management. The financial group announced the transaction on June 25, following initial discussions that began in May.

The acquisition will be executed through SBI’s wholly-owned subsidiary, SBICAH. According to the plan, the subsidiary will first purchase shares from Bitbank founder and CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other individual shareholders, with those transactions set to begin as early as August. Subsequently, Bitbank will repurchase shares currently held by corporate stakeholders MIXI and Ceres, with the entire process targeted for completion by late October, pending regulatory approvals. Once finalized, SBI will hold 100% indirect ownership of Bitbank.

The combined entity is projected to manage about 1.1 trillion yen in assets under custody and serve roughly 2.92 million crypto accounts, based on figures from the end of April. This scale would position the SBI group ahead of other major domestic operators such as bitFlyer and Coincheck....