{"id":78967,"date":"2026-10-02T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/ripple-partner-sbi-completes-takeover-of-japanese-exchange-bitbank\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:59:08","slug":"ripple-partner-sbi-completes-takeover-of-japanese-exchange-bitbank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/ripple-partner-sbi-completes-takeover-of-japanese-exchange-bitbank\/","title":{"rendered":"Ripple Partner SBI Completes Takeover of Japanese Exchange Bitbank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">SBI closed its $290 million (\u00a546.7 billion) Bitbank buyout on Oct. 1 after Bitbank repurchased Mixi and Ceres\u2019 shares.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">SBI expects about $6.97 billion (\u00a51.1 trillion) in custody assets and 2.92 million crypto accounts across the group.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">SBI VC Trade\u2019s Tomohiko Kondo joined Bitbank\u2019s board as SBI pushes RLUSD and a JPYSC yen stablecoin.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>The Deal<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/XRPcryptowolf\/status\/2105791938473435525\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">final share transfer<\/a> went through on Oct. 1, making Bitbank a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI. The price tag was approximately $290 million (\u00a546.7 billion), the same number given when the deal was first announced in June.<\/p>\n<p>The deal was a three-step transaction and followed the steps <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbigroup.co.jp\/english\/news\/pdf\/2026\/0625_a_en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">laid out in SBI\u2019s June 25 notice:<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, SBICAH GK, a wholly owned SBI unit, bought shares from Bitbank CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other individual shareholders<\/li>\n<li>Second, SBICAH subscribed to a third-party allotment of new Bitbank shares<\/li>\n<li>Third, Bitbank used that cash to buy back every share held by Mixi and Ceres as treasury stock<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first step covered 53,704 shares, and the allotment created 48,952 new ones. The whole package needed clearance from the Japan Fair Trade Commission before it could close. For customers, the exchange says nothing changes and accounts, trading, and services carry on as before.<\/p>\n<h2>Who Sits Where Now?<\/h2>\n<p>The ownership change came with a board swap as Tomohiko Kondo, president of SBI\u2019s existing exchange SBI VC Trade, joined Bitbank\u2019s board. Hirosue stayed on as Bitbank\u2019s CEO and became an outside director at SBI VC Trade. Three Bitbank outside directors, namely Satoshi Takagi, Nobuhiro Kanayama and Masaya Kubota, stepped down.<\/p>\n<p>Each exchange now has a seat inside the other, which points to closer integration rather than a passive holding. SBI has done this before when it folded Bitpoint Japan into SBI VC Trade in April, with Bitbank now looking set to be the next piece of the same plan.<\/p>\n<p>SBI is also buying a clean security record, as Bitbank \u201chas maintained zero hacking incidents\u201d since it was founded.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Should XRP Traders Care?<\/h2>\n<p>Bitbank is one of Japan\u2019s busiest XRP venues, and at press time, 5.82 million XRP had changed hands on <a href=\"https:\/\/bitbank.cc\/app\/trade\/xrp_jpy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the exchange\u2019s XRP\/JPY market<\/a> (over the past 24 hours). In fact, Bitbank is one of the few exchanges where XRP comes close to matching bitcoin\u2019s daily turnover.<\/p>\n<p>These volumes now sit inside a group that has worked with Ripple for about a decade, and in August 2025, the two signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/ripple.com\/ripple-press\/ripple-and-sbi-group-partner-to-launch-ripple-usd-in-japan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">memorandum of understanding<\/a> to bring Ripple USD (RLUSD) to Japan. That stablecoin went live in Japan through SBI VC Trade on June 24, following approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency. RLUSD\u2019s total supply has since <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/featured\/ripples-rlusd-exceeds-2-4b-as-monthly-market-cap-growth-tops-50\/\">passed $2.4 billion globally<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>What Does SBI Get Out of It?<\/h2>\n<p>Scale is the most obvious answer here. To elaborate, adding the April 30 figures of SBI VC Trade and Bitbank together gives the group about $6.97 billion (\u00a51.1 trillion) in assets under custody and roughly 2.92 million crypto accounts. That would put it first among Japanese exchange operators by custodied assets.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, when the deal was announced, Bitcoin.com News noted it could create Japan\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/new-crypto-giant-sbis-bitbank-deal-could-create-japans-largest-crypto-exchange\/\">largest crypto exchange<\/a>, something that is now a fact rather than a forecast.<\/p>\n<p>SBI also said the merged business would build \u201cnew financial services utilizing stablecoins,\u201d plans that are now already moving. A yen stablecoin, JPYSC, for instance, is in development through SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, and SBI has further completed a Korea-Japan cross-border stablecoin test last month.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/exchanges\/ripple-partner-sbi-completes-takeover-japanese-exchange-bitbank\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways SBI closed its $290 million (\u00a546.7 billion) Bitbank buyout on Oct. 1 after Bitbank repurchased Mixi and Ceres\u2019 shares. SBI expects about $6.97 billion (\u00a51.1 trillion) in custody assets and 2.92 million crypto accounts across the group. SBI VC Trade\u2019s Tomohiko Kondo joined Bitbank\u2019s board as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3947362404,"featured_media":78968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3947362404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}