SBI Group Acquires Bitbank for 46.7 Billion Yen
Japanese financial giant SBI Group announced on June 25 that it will acquire crypto asset exchange Bitbank (headquartered in Tokyo's Chuo Ward) for approximately 46.7 billion yen (about $289 million). Upon completion, SBI Group's crypto-related custody assets will exceed 1 trillion yen (approximately $6.2 billion), making it the largest crypto trading platform in Japan.
Acquisition Details and Structure
According to the announcement, an SBI Holdings subsidiary will acquire shares from Bitbank founders and other individual shareholders in August. Subsequently, Bitbank will purchase shares held by existing shareholders MIXI and Ceres by the end of October. After the acquisition, Bitbank will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SBI Group.
Post-Merger Market Position
As of April, the combined accounts of SBI's existing crypto platform SBI VC Trade and Bitbank totaled approximately 2.92 million, with combined custody assets of about 1.1 trillion yen. By comparison, other major Japanese platforms: bitFlyer has custody assets of approximately 960 billion yen (as of end-December 2025), and Coincheck about 800 billion yen (as of end-March 2025). This acquisition elevates SBI to the top position in custody asset size, far ahead of competitors.
The transaction is part of SBI Group's strategy to strengthen its crypto business. In May, SBI announced it had begun discussions on capital and business cooperation with Bitbank, paving the way for this acquisition. Japan's crypto industry is seeing a trend of consolidation, with traditional financial institutions accelerating their entry into the digital assets space to capture market share.