SBI Holdings has submitted a letter of intent to acquire a stake in Bitbank Co, Ltd, one of Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, with the explicit goal of making the platform a consolidated subsidiary. The Tokyo-based financial conglomerate confirmed the move in an official announcement, framing it as a core element of its accelerating push to dominate Japan’s digital asset landscape.
The Bitbank letter of intent lands at a critical regulatory inflection point. Japan’s cabinet approved a draft amendment last month that would reclassify cryptocurrencies as financial products under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, the same legal framework governing stocks and securities.
If passed in the current parliamentary session, that reclassification could take effect as early as fiscal 2027.
Bitbank Deal Extends a String of Strategic Acquisitions
The Bitbank move is not an isolated bet. SBI Holdings has already absorbed Bitpoint, a regulated Japanese crypto exchange that supports spot trading and previously offered an onchain bond with rewards payable in XRP.
That absorption gave SBI an operational foothold in Japan’s licensed exchange market before turning its attention to Bitbank, which serves a broader retail base.
In February, SBI disclosed plans to acquire a majority stake in Coinhako, a Singapore-based digital asset platform regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. That deal extended SBI’s reach into Southeast Asia and signaled that its crypto consolidation strategy was not limited to its home market.
The Bitbank acquisition, if completed, would give SBI control over a substantial share of Japan’s domestic crypto trading volume through multiple regulated entities.
Together, these moves reflect a deliberate effort to position SBI as the institutional backbone of crypto infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, owning regulated on-ramps across multiple jurisdictions before tighter rules take hold.
Visa Partnership Adds a Consumer Dimension
Beyond exchange acquisitions, SBI is also building toward retail crypto adoption through a newly announced Visa credit card partnership. A separate official announcement confirmed the launch of cards that automatically convert everyday spending rewards into cryptocurrency, with users able to choose between Bitcoin, Ether, or XRP as their reward asset.
The product targets a segment of consumers who may not actively trade crypto but are open to accumulating digital assets passively through regular purchases.
By anchoring the card to established Visa rails and offering three of the most liquid crypto assets as reward options, SBI is minimizing the friction that typically deters mainstream users from entering the space.
The XRP reward option carries particular significance given SBI’s long-standing relationship with Ripple. SBI holds a stake in Ripple and has been one of its most prominent institutional advocates in Asia.
Offering XRP as a card reward deepens that alignment and creates organic demand for the asset through consumer spending rather than speculation alone.
The timing of the Visa partnership announcement, released the same day as the Bitbank letter of intent, suggests SBI is deliberately running its exchange consolidation strategy in parallel with its consumer product development. One builds the regulated infrastructure, the other builds the user habit.
Japan’s forthcoming regulatory upgrade is the backdrop against which all of these moves make strategic sense. Bringing crypto under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act would impose stricter compliance requirements on exchanges and digital asset businesses, raising the barrier to entry for smaller players.
Larger, well-capitalized institutions like SBI are better equipped to absorb those compliance costs and could benefit from a market structure where regulatory burden accelerates consolidation among smaller operators.
For Bitbank, being absorbed into SBI’s ecosystem could provide regulatory certainty and capital access that independent operation under a stricter framework might not easily afford. For SBI, Bitbank’s existing user base and trading infrastructure represent a faster path to scale than building from scratch.
The full terms of the Bitbank stake acquisition have not yet been disclosed, and a letter of intent does not constitute a binding agreement. SBI has not confirmed a timeline for completing due diligence or finalizing the purchase price.
However, the direction of travel is clear: SBI is assembling a vertically integrated crypto operation spanning regulated exchanges, regional platforms, and consumer financial products, ahead of what could be Japan’s most significant crypto policy shift in years.
Not Financial Advice: This article is for informational purposes only. Crypto investments are highly volatile. Always do your own research.
