SBI Holdings to Acquire Crypto Exchange Bitbank for JPY 46.7 billion

Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has agreed to acquire cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank for JPY 46.7 billion, positioning the combined entity as the largest crypto asset custodian in Japan.

The Tokyo-listed company said its board approved a basic agreement and share transfer agreement on Wednesday, with the purchase to be carried out through wholly owned subsidiary SBICAH GK. Completion is expected around October 2026, subject to clearance from the Japan Fair Trade Commission.

Based on a simple aggregation of figures from SBI VC Trade and Bitbank as of April 30, 2026, the combined group would hold roughly JPY 1.1 trillion in assets under custody and about 2.92 million crypto asset accounts. SBI said this would rank first among domestic crypto exchange providers by assets under custody.

Bitbank was founded in 2014 and is led by CEO Noriyuki Hirosue. The exchange says it has maintained a zero hacking incident record since launch. Its major shareholders are Hirosue with 30.86%, MIXI Inc. with 26.22% and CERES Inc. with 22.39%. SBI said the acquisition will allow both firms to share customer bases, security frameworks and product development capabilities, while expanding into stablecoins and on-chain finance.

Bitbank reported a net loss of JPY 696 million for fiscal year 2025, after posting net income of JPY 2.1 billion in the prior fiscal year. SBI said the deal is expected to have only a minor impact on its consolidated results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027.