SBI Holdings has stepped up its digital-asset push through a string of deals that span Japanese retail trading, U.S. institutional market infrastructure, on-chain risk management and stablecoin distribution. In less than a month, the Japanese financial group agreed to acquire licensed exchange Bitbank for 46.7 billion yen, led EDX Markets’ $76 million Series C, made a sole $125 million investment in Gauntlet, and announced a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation. The sequence marks a noticeable shift for SBI, which has historically favored joint ventures, strategic stakes and outright acquisitions rather than taking the lead in venture rounds. The transactions also line up with several layers of SBI’s broader strategy: retail access in Japan, institutional trading and settlement rails abroad, on-chain treasury and vault management, and a domestic market for regulated stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. Analysts and investors interviewed by The Block said the company appears to be assembling financial “pipes” rather than simply adding crypto exposure, while SBI said the recent acquisitions, investments and partnerships are part of a group-wide move toward an on-chain transition.

Crypto venture capital in the first half of 2026 looked bigger on dollars and much narrower on breadth. A report by Tiger Research and RootData, based on 9,416 investment transactions recorded from 2018 through the first half of 2026, found that total funding reached $13.3 billion, nearly matching the $13.2 billion raised in all of 2024. The catch is that deal count fell to just 435, down 78% from the 2022 peak of 1,978. The report argues that the old spray-and-pray model built around token generation events and fast portfolio turnover has largely broken down. Capital is now concentrating in fewer companies, especially later-stage businesses with auditable revenue models, clearer regulatory standing, and infrastructure seen as useful to institutions. Traditional financial institutions were involved in 54.5% of H1 2026 transactions, according to the report. Sector leadership also shifted sharply. Infrastructure fell from 50.9% of invested capital in 2024 to 14.8% in H1 2026, while payments and stablecoins, centralized exchanges, and prediction markets moved to the front. Gaming, NFT, and social-related categories declined steeply in both deal count and capital raised. The report’s broad conclusion is that crypto capital has moved away from making dispersed bets on narratives and toward owning or controlling strategic rails, licenses, and operating platforms.

SBI Holdings used the momentum around Tokyo’s WebX conference to highlight a broader shift in its digital-asset strategy: the Japanese financial group is no longer treating crypto trading, liquidity, tokenization and payments as separate business lines. Instead, it is assembling a layered on-chain finance system built around settlement, asset issuance, markets, treasury yield, distribution and investor access. Over the past month, SBI took part in Morpho’s $175 million financing, invested $125 million in Gauntlet, launched the yen stablecoin JPYSC and rolled out Ripple’s RLUSD in Japan. It has also expanded work with Startale on the Strium blockchain, set up tokenization initiatives with DigiFT, and entered a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation. At the center of the plan are three stablecoins with different functions: JPYSC for domestic yen-linked flows, USDC for global on-chain liquidity, and RLUSD for institutional and cross-border use cases. Around that base, SBI is trying to connect tokenized securities, RWA infrastructure, lending markets and on-chain asset management. Many pieces are still in early stages, but the outline of SBI’s effort to rebuild settlement, issuance, trading, credit and asset management on-chain is becoming clearer.

Crypto venture investing kept its dollar volume but lost its breadth in the first half of 2026, according to a report by Tiger Research and RootData. The study, based on 9,416 investment deals recorded from 2018 through the first half of 2026, found that total capital inflows reached $13.3 billion in H1 2026, roughly matching the $13.2 billion raised in all of 2024. Deal count, however, fell to 435, down 78% from the 2022 peak of 1,978. The result is a market with fewer checks, larger rounds, and far less tolerance for unproven business models. The report says traditional financial institutions now hold a dominant position in the market, participating in 54.5% of investment deals in H1 2026. Seed activity has contracted sharply, later-stage rounds account for 75.2% of deployed capital, and $100 million-plus transactions now make up 7.4% of all deals. Sector leadership has also changed. Infrastructure lost share, while payments and stablecoins, centralized exchanges, prediction markets, and custody drew a larger portion of capital. In contrast, gaming, NFTs, and social sectors saw steep declines in both deal count and funding. Tiger Research argues that the old venture model of broad token-driven bets has largely broken down. Capital is now being directed toward companies with auditable revenue structures, regulatory licenses, or strategic control over core crypto infrastructure.

David Marcus, former head of Meta's crypto division, has launched Lightspark, a payments startup focused on Bitcoin's Lightning Network. The venture has secured investment from a16z, Paradigm, and other top VCs.

Stripe has agreed to acquire crypto wallet infrastructure firm Privy, extending its Web3 strategy after buying stablecoin platform Bridge. Privy says it will continue operating as an independent product after the deal closes.

African fintech unicorn Chipper Cash is reportedly considering a sale or new investors. The company says it never sought to be acquired and describes its exposure to SVB and Signature Bank as limited.

TLGY Acquisition Corp. merges with SC Assets to form StablecoinX, targeting the Ethena ecosystem with a $360M PIPE round including $60M from Ethena Foundation. The firm will accumulate ENA tokens for validator services and treasury management.