Financial giant acquires licensed exchange as new regulations reshape digital-asset market
SBI Holdings announced the acquisition of Bitbank for $289 million on June 28, 2026, marking its largest consolidation move in Japan’s cryptocurrency sector and positioning the Tokyo-based financial services group to dominate the country’s regulated digital-asset market.
The deal combines Bitbank’s 960,000 customer accounts and 570 billion yen in assets under custody with SBI’s existing crypto operations, creating a platform with 2.9 million combined accounts and 1.1 trillion yen in total assets under custody. The acquisition also brings Japan Digital Asset Trust, an institutional custody business, into SBI’s fold.
The timing reflects pressure from new Japanese legislation passed on June 11, 2026, which shifts crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and imposes stricter capital, custody and disclosure requirements on exchanges. The reforms lower the tax rate on crypto gains to a flat 20% and clear the way for spot bitcoin, ether and XRP exchange-traded funds, but simultaneously raise the cost of operating as a standalone exchange.
Bitbank reported an operating loss as revenue fell 27% in fiscal 2025, underscoring the financial strain on independent platforms. Industry-wide, 90% of licensed exchanges in Japan are already unprofitable, according to data embedded in the acquisition context.
“We expect consolidation to continue,” said Steve Payne, co-founder and partner at Architect Partners, an investment bank analyzing the deal. “With the field set to thin, bitFlyer, the last large independent and already private-equity owned, is an obvious next domino, and foreign platforms that want Japan are more likely to buy a licensed seat than build one.”
SBI paid an 8 times revenue multiple for Bitbank, a discount to the 9.7 revenue multiple Coinbase paid for Deribit. The Bitbank acquisition continues SBI’s pattern of building scale through mergers rather than organic expansion. In 2020, SBI VC Trade absorbed TaoTao. Three years later, in 2023, SBI acquired Bitpoint Japan. In 2024, SBI absorbed DMM Bitcoin customer accounts and custody assets, then consolidated Bitpoint Japan into its main platform in April 2026.
The broader crypto M&A market is active. Through June 28, 2026, 144 deals valued at $11.8 billion have been announced year-to-date. SBI’s market capitalization stands at $11 billion.
Alongside the Bitbank acquisition announcement, SBI unveiled distribution of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin in Japan, a Visa-branded crypto rewards card and a stablecoin payments initiative. These moves signal SBI’s intent to expand beyond spot trading into payments and institutional services.
Japan has 27 registered cryptocurrency exchanges. The new regulatory framework is expected to accelerate consolidation among the smaller and less-capitalized platforms unable to meet heightened compliance costs.
