SBI Holdings’ $289 million acquisition of Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank is being framed by Architect Partners as one of the clearest signs yet that consolidation is accelerating in Japan’s digital asset market. As regulatory changes make it harder and more expensive for standalone exchanges to operate, SBI is using acquisitions to expand its regulated footprint rather than relying on internal growth alone.
The deal fits a strategy SBI has followed for years. Its crypto unit, SBI VC Trade, absorbed TaoTao in 2020, took over customer accounts and custody assets from DMM Bitcoin in 2024, and integrated Bitpoint Japan in April after fully owning the company since 2023. With Bitbank now added to that list, SBI is extending its position across a larger share of Japan’s licensed crypto market.
Custody assets and account base would rise sharply
Bitbank holds 570 billion yen in assets under custody and has 960,000 accounts. Architect Partners estimates that adding the exchange would lift the combined platform to roughly 1.1 trillion yen in custody assets across about 2.9 million accounts. For SBI, whose businesses already span securities, banking, insurance, asset management and venture investing, that scale matters in a market where regulation is becoming more demanding.
Steve Payne, co-founder and partner at Architect Partners, wrote that consolidation is expected to continue. He said bitFlyer, described as the last large independent platform and already owned by private equity, stands out as an obvious next candidate, while foreign companies looking for a foothold in Japan are more likely to acquire a licensed operator than build one from scratch.
Buying a licensed platform is faster than building one
Payne said the Bitbank transaction is not only about adding customers. The acquisition gives SBI a Financial Services Agency-licensed exchange, access to one of Japan’s deeper altcoin liquidity pools, and an institutional custody business through Japan Digital Asset Trust. Recreating those capabilities internally would take more time and require more capital.
Architect Partners said crypto mergers and acquisitions have stayed active in 2026. The sector has logged 144 deals worth $11.8 billion so far this year, with buyers increasingly targeting exchanges, custody firms, data businesses and stablecoin infrastructure as regulated digital asset activity attracts more institutional money.
New rules raise pressure on smaller exchanges
The timing of the acquisition is tied closely to Japan’s regulatory shift. Legislation passed by the lower house on June 11 would move crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, bringing them closer to securities rules. The changes would cut the tax rate on crypto gains to a flat 20% and open a path for spot bitcoin, ether and XRP exchange-traded funds, while also imposing tighter capital, custody and disclosure requirements on exchanges.
Architect Partners said those higher compliance costs are likely to push the market toward more deals. According to the report, about 90% of licensed exchanges in Japan are already unprofitable, and as many as half of the country’s 27 registered exchanges could eventually disappear.
Bitbank reported an operating loss in fiscal 2025 after revenue fell 27%, yet SBI still agreed to pay about eight times revenue. Architect Partners compared that with the 9.7x revenue multiple Coinbase paid for Deribit, arguing that this type of valuation only makes sense if the buyer is paying for a regulated market position rather than near-term earnings.
SBI also used the announcement to outline a broader digital asset push. Alongside the Bitbank acquisition, it introduced distribution of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin in Japan, a Visa-branded crypto rewards card and a stablecoin payments initiative. Taken together, those moves show SBI building a platform that combines trading, custody, tokenization, payments and settlement.