Summary
Japan's SBI Holdings closed a $76 million Series C for EDX Markets as the sole investor — no syndicate, no co-lead. EDX Markets is the institutional crypto exchange backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Virtu Financial, and Charles Schwab. The round lands weeks after EDX filed with the OCC to charter EDX Trust, National Association — a national trust bank for crypto custody headquartered in Chicago.
EDX was designed from day one to mimic traditional market structure: trading on one side, custody and settlement on another, with a central clearinghouse between buyers and sellers. This structural separation is meant to cut counterparty risk. SBI Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao tied the investment to SBI's push into yen-denominated stablecoins and its domestic handling of dollar-backed tokens like RLUSD and USDC in Japan. EDX's most recently disclosed average daily volume was ~$200 million (December 2025).
Key Facts
- $76M Series C — sole investor: SBI Holdings
- EDX Markets: institutional crypto exchange backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Virtu Financial
- EDX filed for OCC national trust bank charter (EDX Trust, NA) on March 25, 2026
- Structural model: separate trading, custody, settlement with central clearinghouse
- SBI Chairman: investment tied to yen stablecoin strategy and RLUSD/USDC handling in Japan
- Follows SBI's solo $125M Gauntlet Series C (July 9) and $76M EDX investment
- EDX avg daily volume: ~$200M (Dec 2025)
- Previous round: Series B led by Pantera Capital and Sequoia Capital (Jan 2024, undisclosed)
- OCC charter decision pending as of July 2026
Why It Matters
SBI Holdings continues its strategy of writing solo, large-scale checks for institutional crypto infrastructure. The EDX investment — combined with the OCC trust bank filing — signals that EDX is trying to become regulated market infrastructure rather than a louder version of Coinbase. For SBI, the investment provides a partner for its yen stablecoin strategy and a bridge between Japanese and US institutional crypto markets. The OCC's decision on EDX's trust bank charter will be a bellwether for how federal regulators view crypto exchanges seeking bank-like status.