SBI Group acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based crypto platform Coinhako, the Japanese financial services conglomerate said on Friday. Coinhako holds a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and operates in Singapore, SBI said.
"The SBI Group seeks to establish a global corridor for digital assets by connecting exchanges worldwide," Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, Japan’s largest online securities firm with more than 14 million users and $308 billion in assets under custody.
The acquisition follows SBI teaming up with Ondo Finance on Thursday to tokenize Japanese equities and other assets using its JPYSC stablecoin for settlement.
The company's regional expansion is also backed by a new partnership with the Solana Foundation. Under the agreement, the foundation will take an equity stake in SBI R3 Japan, which will be renamed SBI Solana Global. The new entity will focus on issuing stablecoins and on tokenizing real-world assets, such as corporate bonds and real estate.
The company said the strategy is intended to connect traditional financial markets with blockchain-based infrastructure.
First in Asia
“SBI is the first financial group in Asia to go after the entire digital asset value chain at once, from issuance and settlement through trading infrastructure, asset management and retail distribution, and to do it across the region rather than only at home,” Joseph Goh, director and head of Asia Pacific at crypto investment banking and advisory firm Areta, told CoinDesk.
“The real prize is the yen side of onchain settlement, one of the most strategic positions in Asian finance over the coming decade, and that is exactly what SBI is building toward,” he added.
One technical limitation remains. JPYSC does not yet support withdrawals to external wallets.
"Regarding JPYSC, its use is currently limited to accounts within SBI VC Trade, and it does not yet support withdrawals to external wallets or remittances and settlements via public blockchains," the spokesperson said.
For now, that limits JPYSC's use outside SBI's own platform. Investors cannot yet move the stablecoin to external wallets or use it to settle transactions across public blockchains.
Sota Watanabe, CEO of Startale Group, which works with SBI Holdings on JPYSC, said the company's continued investment in digital assets reflects what he sees as growing institutional confidence in blockchain infrastructure.
"SBI Holdings' continued commitment to digital assets likely signals confidence in the future architecture of global finance," Watanabe told CoinDesk.
He said blockchain is increasingly being viewed as financial infrastructure rather than an emerging technology, adding that Japan is well-positioned to lead the sector due to its regulatory framework and financial institutions.
SBI expansion
SBI agreed to buy Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank for around $289 million in June. The acquisition is expected to close in October, subject to regulatory approval. SBI previously acquired crypto exchange Bitpoint in 2022. The firm also led a $76 million Series C funding round for institutional exchange EDX Markets and a $25 million Series C round for crypto risk manager Gauntlet, the spokesperson said.