SBI Holdings Takes Full Control of Japanese Crypto Exchange Bitbank

SBI Holdings completed its acquisition of Bitbank, a Japanese crypto exchange, on October 1. The deal made Bitbank a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings, with the latter paying ¥46.7 billion (approximately $295 million) for the acquisition. Tomohiko Kondo, CEO of SBI VC Trade, joined Bitbank's board of directors under the new management structure.

Bitbank's president and CEO, Noriyuki Hirosue, assured customers that the ownership change would not affect their existing services or access to the exchange. The acquisition is part of SBI Holdings' expansion of its digital finance activities, which include developing onchain financial markets, yen-denominated stablecoins, and cross-border payments.

The acquisition follows a multi-step process involving a share transfer, capital increase, and Bitbank's repurchase of shares from MIXI and Ceres. The transaction was announced in June, and SBI Holdings has integrated Bitbank into its structure.

Bitbank has also been developing products beyond conventional spot trading, including the EPOS Crypto Card, which allows users to pay bills directly using Bitcoin held on the platform. The exchange has clarified that it has no affiliation with an Iranian digital asset exchange of the same name, which was sanctioned by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in September.