CoinDesk
SBI Holdings, Japan's largest online brokerage with 14 million users and $308 billion in assets under custody, took a majority stake in Singapore-based crypto platform Coinhako, the firm said on Friday. The deal extends a regional push that has, in the same week, paired SBI with Ondo Finance to tokenize Japanese equities settled in its JPYSC stablecoin, and with the Solana Foundation to issue stablecoins and real-world assets through a renamed SBI Solana Global.
Coinhako holds a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, giving SBI a regulated on- and off-ramp across one of Asia's most-watched crypto jurisdictions. The acquisition lands alongside a planned $289 million purchase of Tokyo-based exchange Bitbank, expected to close in October, plus a $76 million lead in EDX Markets' Series C and a $25 million round in crypto risk manager Gauntlet.
Why it matters
"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 bank Areta, told CoinDesk. The yen side of onchain settlement, he added, is "exactly what SBI is building toward."
The play pulls issuance (JPYSC), trading venues (Coinhako, Bitbank, Bitpoint), institutional rails (EDX), risk tooling (Gauntlet) and tokenization (Ondo) under one Asian balance sheet. That vertical is rarer than it looks: most major financial groups license a piece of the stack, while SBI is buying across it.
Market impact
One constraint sits inside the strategy. SBI said JPYSC cannot yet be moved to external wallets or used to settle across public blockchains, and is currently usable only inside SBI VC Trade accounts. Until that changes, the yen stablecoin's reach is bounded by SBI's own distribution, even as the broader corridor expands geographically.
SBI framed the expansion as long-cycle infrastructure, not a market-timing trade.
Frequently asked questions
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What did SBI Holdings actually announce?
SBI said on Friday it acquired a majority stake in Singapore-licensed crypto platform Coinhako, extending a regional push that also includes a tokenization partnership with Ondo Finance and an equity deal with the Solana Foundation.
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Why does a Japanese brokerage buying a Singapore crypto platform matter?
Coinhako holds a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, giving SBI a regulated entry into one of Asia's most-watched crypto markets and a building block for a cross-border digital asset corridor.
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What is the JPYSC stablecoin and how far can it travel today?
JPYSC is SBI's yen-pegged stablecoin used for on-chain settlement of tokenized assets. SBI said it currently works only inside SBI VC Trade accounts and does not yet support withdrawals to external wallets or settlement on public blockchains.
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Which other crypto deals has SBI made this year?
SBI agreed to buy Tokyo-based exchange Bitbank for about $289 million, led a $76 million Series C in institutional venue EDX Markets, and invested $25 million in crypto risk manager Gauntlet, on top of its earlier 2022 acquisition of Bitpoint.
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How do industry figures read SBI's strategy?
Joseph Goh of crypto advisory Areta called SBI the first Asian financial group to chase the full digital asset stack from issuance to retail distribution at once, with the yen side of onchain settlement as the strategic prize.
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