The Japan Financial Services Group, SBI Holdings, disclosed that it had agreed to purchase the encrypted currency exchange, Bitbank, for approximately $289 million. The transaction still requires regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in October.

Acquisitions aimed at Japanese encryption expansion

SBI considered this acquisition as part of the expansion of encryption operations. The company had previously acquired the encryption exchange Bitpoint in 2022, and this time continued to add to the layout of the local Japanese trading platform.

Reports indicate that the SBI had proposed this direction as early as last month. At that time, the company linked the plan to possible regulatory changes in Japan, suggesting that the local market was entering a new stage of institutional adjustment.

Japan proposes to integrate encrypted assets into the financial product system

Japan is currently promoting the inclusion of encrypted assets in the framework of the Financial Commodity Transactions Act. The law applies to securities products such as shares, and the relevant adjustments may be effective as early as the next financial year.

This change would mean that the regulatory calibre of Japan ' s encryption market would be further aligned with traditional financial products and could affect the business structure and compliance requirements of the trading platform.

Bitbank is top ten active Japanese exchanges.

According to CoinGecko, Bitbank ranks among the top 10 encryption exchanges in Japan, with 24-hour transactions close to $50 million.

This compares with a 24-hour trade of more than $1 billion on platforms such as Toobit, CoinW, Kraken and Bitmart. However, Bitbank still has a certain share of the local market in Japan, which is also an important down point for the ongoing expansion of the encryption map by the SBI.

  • Acquisitions: approximately $289 million
  • Date of delivery: October
  • Prerequisite: regulatory approval required

Additional information:In its statement, the SBI confirmed that the completion of the transaction was subject to the control of the approval process; the company had previously entered the Japanese encryption exchange market through the acquisition of Bitpoint.