SBI Holdings completed its full acquisition of cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank on October 1, following a $290 million (¥46.7 billion) buyout. The transaction folding one of Japan's active XRP markets into Ripple's regional partner follows Bitbank's repurchase of shares from Mixi and Ceres.
The deal was structured as a three-step transaction outlined in a June notice, involving share purchases by SBI unit SBICAH GK, a third-party allotment of new shares, and a treasury stock buyback. The process required clearance from the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Bitbank stated that customer accounts, trading, and services will continue without changes.
Leadership Changes and Integration
Alongside the ownership shift, leadership changes were implemented. Tomohiko Kondo, president of SBI's existing exchange SBI VC Trade, joined the Bitbank board. Noriyuki Hirosue remained Bitbank CEO while taking on an outside director role at SBI VC Trade, while three Bitbank outside directors stepped down. Bitbank has maintained a clean security record with zero reported hacking incidents since its founding.
Impact on XRP Trading and Custody Assets
Bitbank serves as a prominent Japanese venue for XRP trading, with significant daily turnover on its XRP/JPY market. The acquisition integrates these volumes into an SBI group that has partnered with Ripple for approximately a decade. SBI and Ripple previously signed a memorandum of understanding regarding Ripple USD (RLUSD) in August 2025, and RLUSD went live in Japan via SBI VC Trade following approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency.
Combining the figures of SBI VC Trade and Bitbank results in approximately $6.97 billion (¥1.1 trillion) in assets under custody and roughly 2.92 million crypto accounts across the group. SBI also plans to build financial services utilizing stablecoins, including the development of a yen stablecoin, JPYSC, through SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, alongside recent cross-border stablecoin tests between Korea and Japan.
