SBI Group will acquire Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank for 46.7 billion yen, or about $289 million, as the financial conglomerate expands its digital asset business and stablecoin operations in Japan.
The acquisition was announced on June 25, with SBI expected to buy Bitbank shares from individual shareholders, including the founder, as early as August. Bitbank will then acquire shares held by existing shareholders MIXI and Ceres by the end of October, after which the exchange is expected to become a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Group.
The deal follows SBI Holdings’ May announcement that it had started discussions on a capital and business alliance with Bitbank, with a view to making the exchange a consolidated subsidiary. Bitbank said existing user accounts, trading operations and services will continue without disruption.
SBI Crypto Assets Set to Exceed 1 Trillion Yen
The acquisition will increase SBI Group’s scale in Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange market. SBI said the combined number of accounts, including SBI VC Trade and Bitbank, would reach about 2.92 million based on April figures.
The combined assets under management are expected to reach about 1.1 trillion yen, placing SBI among the largest crypto exchange operators in Japan by reported customer assets. The figure would exceed bitFlyer’s roughly 960 billion yen reported at the end of December 2025 and Coincheck’s roughly 800 billion yen reported at the end of March 2025, although disclosure timing differs among exchanges.
SBI has been consolidating its domestic crypto business this year. Earlier in 2026, SBI VC Trade absorbed another local exchange, Bitpoint Japan, expanding the group’s trading, custody, and digital asset service base before the Bitbank deal.
Bitbank’s addition gives SBI broader access to Japanese retail crypto users and a larger pool of customer assets. The move also strengthens SBI’s position as Japan updates rules for digital assets, stablecoins, tokenization, and crypto-linked financial products.
Ripple Stablecoin RLUSD Launches in Japan
The Bitbank acquisition comes as SBI deepens its collaboration with Ripple, the blockchain company behind XRP Ledger and Ripple USD. Ripple and SBI Group recently announced the official launch of RLUSD in Japan through SBI VC Trade’s VCTRADE platform.
RLUSD received approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency and is classified under Japan’s Payment Services Act as a new type of electronic payment instrument for foreign-issued stablecoins. The stablecoin is backed by U.S. dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries and will be available to institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade.
Ripple said RLUSD is designed to support payments, tokenization, and collateral management. SBI VC Trade CEO Tomohiko Kondo said the launch marks another stage in SBI’s cooperation with Ripple and said the group plans to expand services built around RLUSD.
SBI VC Trade’s integration is important for the XRP Ledger because RLUSD is also natively issued on XRPL. Analysts have noted that XRP Ledger now holds more RLUSD on-chain than Ethereum, with about $801 million on XRPL compared with about $795 million on Ethereum.
Source: X
That shift may matter for infrastructure adoption. As more institutions and exchanges seek RLUSD access, some may also integrate XRP Ledger rails because the stablecoin has native issuance and growing liquidity on the network.
SBI Expands Yen Stablecoin and Crypto Rewards
SBI is also developing domestic stablecoin infrastructure. The group launched JPYSC, a yen-backed stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank in partnership with Startale Group.
JPYSC is classified as a Type III electronic payment instrument and is active for internal settlement on SBI VC Trade accounts, with future public blockchain circulation planned. The structure places SBI’s yen stablecoin inside Japan’s regulated digital payment framework.
The group is also testing crypto rewards for traditional depositors through SBI Shinsei Bank. Under the pilot program, users can earn crypto vouchers worth 20% of their deposit interest, redeemable for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP through SBI VC Trade.
