SBI Holdings to Fully Acquire Bitbank for ¥46.7B

SBI Holdings has approved a definitive agreement to fully acquire Japan’s crypto exchange Bitbank for about ¥46.7B, creating a major custody-led platform in Japan, subject to regulatory approval. The purchase will be executed in stages before expected completion in October 2026. SBI will use its wholly owned unit (SBICAH LLC) to move from existing control to 100% voting control over Bitbank. In August 2026, SBICAH LLC will buy 53,704 Bitbank shares from CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other holders. In October 2026, it will subscribe for 48,952 newly issued shares via a third-party allotment. Bitbank plans to use the proceeds to buy back shares held by major corporate investors MIXI and Ceres, turn the shares into treasury stock, and retire them—supporting SBI’s full ownership structure on an indirect basis at closing. Before the deal, Hirosue held 30.86% of Bitbank, while MIXI and Ceres held 26.22% and 22.39%, respectively. After closing, the combined SBI platform (including SBI VC Trade) is expected to manage around ¥1.1T in customer assets across about 2.92M accounts. SBI also said Bitbank has reported “zero hacking incidents” since its 2014 launch and plans to expand stablecoins and on-chain finance products after the acquisition. Bitbank’s trading, lending, and crypto payment services are expected to continue without immediate operational changes, and SBI does not expect material impact on consolidated results for the fiscal year ending March 2027. For traders: this is a corporate/regulatory consolidation story around Bitbank rather than a protocol or token catalyst, so near-term price effects on specific coins are likely limited.