SBI Holdings completed its ¥46.7 billion acquisition of Bitbank on Oct. 1, 2026, making the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange a wholly owned subsidiary. The multistage transaction gave SBI full indirect voting control after its SBICAH GK unit bought shares from individual holders, received newly issued Bitbank shares through a third-party allotment and enabled Bitbank to repurchase stakes held by MIXI and Ceres. SBI said combined figures as of April 30 indicated about ¥1.1 trillion in assets under custody and roughly 2.92 million crypto-asset accounts, placing the group first among domestic operators by custodied assets. Bitbank said its platform and customer services would remain unchanged. Tomohiko Kondo, president and representative director of SBI VC Trade, joined Bitbank as a director, while Bitbank representative director, president and CEO Noriyuki Hirosue is set to become an outside director of SBI VC Trade. The acquisition extends SBI's regional digital-asset expansion, which also includes a majority stake in Singapore-based Coinhako, the JPYSC yen-based stablecoin developed with Startale and distribution of Ripple's RLUSD in Japan.