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SBI Holdings to Buy Bitbank for $289 Million Despite Exchange’s Operating Loss
The deal doubles SBI's crypto custody assets to 1.1 trillion yen and adds nearly one million accounts. It comes weeks after Japan passed legislation that tightens rules on exchanges while cutting crypto taxes.
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SBI Holdings agreed to acquire Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank for $289 million, CoinDesk reported on June 28, 2026. The purchase doubles SBI's crypto assets under custody to roughly 1.1 trillion yen and brings its total customer accounts to 2.9 million. Bitbank holds 570 billion yen, or $3.5 billion, in assets under custody and serves 960,000 accounts.
Architect Partners said SBI is buying regulated scale rather than near-term earnings. The investment bank noted that SBI agreed to pay about eight times Bitbank's revenue even though the exchange posted an operating loss after revenue fell 27 percent in fiscal 2025. SBI has expanded its crypto operations through acquisitions for years.
Its SBI VC Trade unit absorbed TaoTao in 2020 and DMM Bitcoin's customer accounts and custody assets in 2024. SBI wholly owned Bitpoint Japan since 2023 and absorbed it in April 2026. Japan's lower house passed legislation on June 11 that shifts crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
The measure lowers the tax rate on crypto gains to a flat 20 percent and opens the door for spot bitcoin, ether and XRP exchange-traded funds while imposing stricter capital, custody and disclosure requirements. Architect Partners recorded 144 crypto mergers and acquisitions worth $11.8 billion through June 28.
It said roughly 90 percent of Japan's licensed exchanges are already unprofitable and as many as half of the 27 registered platforms may disappear.
SBI Holdings has a market capitalization of about $11 billion. The Tokyo-based financial services group operates across securities, banking, insurance and asset management.
