SBI Holdings will acquire Bitbank for ¥46.7B ($289M) in a staggered deal. Combined custody assets stand at ¥1.1T across 2.92M accounts. The acquisition follows the Bitpoint Japan integration.
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SBI Holdings is buying Bitbank, one of Japan's largest crypto exchanges, for ¥46.7 billion, about $289 million. The deal turns Bitbank into a wholly owned subsidiary.
SBI will route the acquisition through SBICAH GK, a company it controls. Shares are coming from multiple holders: Bitbank's founders, individual shareholders, and corporate investors MIXI and CERES. The timeline is staggered. Individual share sales close in August 2026. The MIXI and CERES tranches should finish by late October 2026. SBI said the transaction will have a minor impact on its fiscal year 2027 results.
The groundwork was laid months earlier. SBI Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao signed a letter of intent on May 1, 2026, outlining a capital and business alliance. That letter has now matured into a full buyout.
Once the purchase closes, the combined custody business will manage roughly ¥1.1 trillion in assets. At recent exchange rates that is between $6.2 billion and $6.8 billion. Those assets sit across approximately 2.92 million accounts, based on data from April 30, 2026.
The Bitbank acquisition follows the integration of Bitpoint Japan into SBI VC Trade, completed in April 2026. SBI now controls three exchange brands: SBI VC Trade, Bitpoint, and Bitbank. The Japanese crypto market has consolidated considerably after the 2018 Coincheck hack and subsequent regulatory tightening. SBI is effectively the largest player by assets under custody.
Japanese financial institutions are valuing crypto infrastructure. Nomura's Laser Digital and Mitsubishi UFJ's Progmat are building similar capabilities. SBI's scale differs. With ¥1.1 trillion under custody and nearly 3 million accounts, the combined entity will dwarf most other Japanese crypto platforms.
The staggered acquisition timeline, with individual sales finishing first, suggests SBI wants to keep Bitbank's day-to-day operations running during the transition. The real test will come after October 2026, when full ownership kicks in and SBI can decide how much independence Bitbank retains.
SBI said the deal will not materially affect its FY2027 earnings. That implies the purchase price is manageable relative to SBI's overall balance sheet. The strategic value may show up in future quarters as SBI cross-sells its financial products, including securities and insurance, to the Bitbank user base.
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