SBI Holdings and Startale Group have officially launched Strium Network, a regulated Layer 1 blockchain designed for trading tokenized securities and real-world assets across Asia. The project is aimed at the $18.9 trillion tokenized asset market and is built around a simple idea: combine traditional financial compliance with always-on blockchain-based trading infrastructure.
A partnership that began in August 2025
The two companies trace their collaboration back to August 2025, when their initial agreement focused on yen stablecoins and RWA platforms under Japan’s crypto-friendly regulatory environment. With the launch of Strium, the division of labor is now clearer. SBI handles the financial side, while Startale leads the technical architecture.
Tokyo-based SBI Holdings brings scale from its existing financial businesses. The company serves more than 80 million customers and operates across securities, banking, and trading. According to the released details, SBI is expected to contribute compliance tools and connections to traditional financial systems so the network can meet regulatory standards in Asian markets while supporting larger volumes.
Startale Group brings the blockchain infrastructure expertise. The Singapore-based firm is known for Soneium Layer 2, backed by Sony, and for Astar Network. The material says the partners have created two ventures, one focused on the technical core and another on global expansion, with the goal of addressing familiar market bottlenecks such as limited trading windows and slow settlement.
Strium is focused on the trading layer only
Strium is not positioned as a full-stack asset platform. Instead, it is designed strictly as an exchange layer. It does not issue assets and it does not store them. Those responsibilities are left to specialized participants, while Strium concentrates on the infrastructure needed for trading and settlement. That separation is meant to make the operating model clearer for institutional users.
The proof-of-concept phase highlighted two capabilities in particular: fast settlement with resilience during transaction surges, and connectivity with both banks and multiple blockchains. A testnet is expected soon, though no exact launch date has been provided. More detailed commercial information is set to be released in the coming months.
Targeting tokenized property, bonds, and other RWAs
The network is aimed at trading tokenized forms of assets such as real estate and bonds. Based on the project description, retail users could access smaller slices of high-value assets rather than needing large amounts of upfront capital. The trading model also points to 24/7 market access, with the option to connect holdings to DeFi-based opportunities.
For institutional participants, the pitch centers on regulated access to on-chain liquidity. The published material says this structure could reduce costs by cutting intermediaries and improve the speed of cross-border settlement. It also points to possible future use cases such as programmable securities, automated dividend flows, and asset-backed instant lending, though the current launch remains focused on the trading network itself.
Asia is the first market in focus
From the information released so far, Strium is taking a narrower path rather than trying to handle every function in one chain. The immediate focus is compliant trading infrastructure. SBI’s financial network and Startale’s blockchain engineering form the base of that strategy. What comes next will depend on the testnet rollout, the commercial framework released over the next few months, and how effectively the network connects banks with blockchain systems in real operation.