SBI Holdings completed its full acquisition of Bitbank on Oct. 1, finalizing a $290 million (¥46.7 billion) transaction first announced in June. The deal brings one of Japan's busiest XRP trading venues under SBI's control and solidifies the group's grip on the nation's crypto exchange market.
Bitbank now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI following a three-step share transfer cleared by the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Combined with SBI VC Trade, the merged entity holds approximately $6.97 billion (¥1.1 trillion) in custodied assets across roughly 2.92 million accounts—making it Japan's largest crypto exchange operator by that metric.
The deal included strategic board reshuffling. Tomohiko Kondo, president of SBI VC Trade, joined Bitbank's board, while Bitbank CEO Hirosue retained his role and became an outside director at SBI VC Trade. Three of Bitbank's outside directors—Satoshi Takagi, Nobuhiro Kanayama, and Masaya Kubota—departed. The reciprocal seating signals deeper operational integration beyond passive holdings.
This consolidation mirrors SBI's absorption of Bitpoint Japan into SBI VC Trade in April. Bitbank represents the next phase of centralized exchange control within the group.
Bitbank brings a clean security record—zero hacking incidents since inception—plus significant XRP liquidity. In the 24 hours before the transaction closed, 5.82 million XRP traded on Bitbank's XRP/JPY market, with volumes often approaching Bitcoin's daily turnover.
Controlling this liquidity positions SBI to deepen its Ripple partnership, which spans nearly a decade. In August, SBI and Ripple signed a memorandum of understanding to bring Ripple USD (RLUSD) to Japan. RLUSD launched through SBI VC Trade on June 24 after approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency, with total global supply now exceeding $2.4 billion.
SBI is leveraging the merged platform to advance stablecoin ambitions. SBI Shinsei Trust Bank is developing a yen stablecoin, JPYSC, and SBI recently completed a cross-border stablecoin test between Korea and Japan, signaling regional expansion plans.
