SBI Holdings Backs EDX Markets With $76M, Fuels OCC Charter Bid

EDX Markets closed a $76 million Series C funding round led by SBI Holdings, the Chicago-based exchange operator said Tuesday. The raise brings a major Japanese financial group onto EDX’s cap table as the firm pursues a national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

EDX runs an institution-only trading venue with a central clearinghouse, designed to mirror the risk controls and settlement standards of traditional markets. The new capital will go toward expanding trading, clearing, and settlement operations. EDX also plans to speed up product development and grow its footprint outside the U.S.

CEO Tony Acuna-Rohter said SBI brings experience serving global financial institutions. He called the partnership a fit for EDX’s goal of giving institutions large-scale access to digital assets.

SBI Holdings has been building its own digital asset infrastructure. The firm recently launched JPYSC, described as Japan’s first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin. SBI also distributes U.S. dollar stablecoins RLUSD and USDC domestically in Japan.

Yoshitaka Kitao, SBI’s chairman and president, said EDX’s platform addresses growing institutional demand for regulated market infrastructure. He pointed to JPYSC and SBI’s stablecoin work as part of a broader network the EDX investment will plug into.

“We believe trusted market infrastructure will serve as a critical foundation for institutional adoption,” Kitao said.

The funding comes as EDX pursues an OCC national trust charter. The firm filed an application to establish EDX Trust, which would offer regulated custody, clearing, settlement, and risk management services if approved. A charter would let EDX hold client assets directly under federal oversight, a step that could lower the barrier for banks and asset managers to trade crypto on the venue.

EDX also launched EDX Flowconnect earlier this year, a crypto-as-a-service product that lets firms build their own digital asset trading offerings for customers. The product targets broker-dealers and financial platforms that want to offer crypto without building the back-end themselves.

Before SBI joined the round, EDX already counted some of the largest trading and venture firms as backers. Founding investors include Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab Corporation, Virtu Financial, Sequoia Capital, and Paradigm. Schwab’s involvement ties EDX to a retail-brokerage giant that has moved cautiously into crypto.

SBI’s stake connects EDX to Japan’s stablecoin market at a time when yen-backed and dollar-backed tokens are expanding under separate regulatory regimes. Traders watching cross-border stablecoin flows and institutional adoption trends will track whether that link brings Japanese liquidity to EDX’s U.S. venue.

EDX has not disclosed its post-money valuation. The OCC has not set a timeline for ruling on the trust charter application.