SBI to buy Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank for ¥46.7B

SBI Holdings has signed a purchase agreement to acquire Bitbank for 46.7 billion yen ($288.6 million). The transaction will be executed through SBI’s wholly owned subsidiary SBICAH LLC. If completed, Bitbank will become an indirectly held, wholly owned subsidiary with a 100% voting rights ownership ratio. The deal remains subject to merger clearance from the Japan Fair Trade Commission and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in October.

SBI plans to combine Bitbank with its existing crypto operations to expand trading services and develop financial products tied to stablecoins and other digital assets. The integration will draw on Bitbank’s customer base, service development capabilities, and security and compliance systems together with SBI’s management resources.

SBI estimated that a simple aggregation of SBI VC Trade and Bitbank figures as of the end of April 2026 would raise the group’s crypto customer assets to about 1.1 trillion yen ($6.8 billion) and increase the number of cryptocurrency accounts to roughly 2.92 million.

In its statement, SBI projected, “This would place us in first place among domestic cryptocurrency exchange operators in terms of assets under management and among the top in terms of the number of accounts.”

Bitbank, founded in May 2014, operates one of Japan’s major cryptocurrency exchanges and reports it has experienced no hacking incidents since its establishment. SBI first disclosed it was in talks to acquire Bitbank in May and provided the formal purchase agreement this week.

SBI did not disclose detailed financials for Bitbank beyond the agreed purchase price. Completion will depend on regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.