Summary
SBI Holdings acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based crypto exchange Coinhako after receiving approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The deal, completed on July 16 through SBI Ventures Asset, gives SBI a regulated Singapore base and access to Coinhako's customer base across Southeast Asia. Coinhako holds a Major Payment Institution license from MAS and has operated since 2014.
The acquisition is the latest in a rapid series of SBI digital asset moves: JPYSC stablecoin launch (June 24), Bitbank acquisition for ~$289M (June 25), EDX Markets $76M Series C lead (July 7), SBI Solana Global partnership (July 13), and Ondo Finance tokenization partnership (July 16). SBI Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao said the group aims to create a global digital asset corridor connecting exchanges worldwide. Joseph Goh of Areta called SBI "the first financial group in Asia to go after the entire digital asset value chain at once."
Key Facts
- SBI Ventures Asset acquired majority stake in Coinhako (Holdbuild Pte. Ltd.)
- MAS approval obtained; deal closed July 16, 2026
- Coinhako: Major Payment Institution license from MAS; operated since 2014
- Coinhako co-founders: Yusho Liu and Gerry Eng
- SBI's five digital asset moves in five weeks: JPYSC, Bitbank ($289M), EDX Markets ($76M), SBI Solana Global, Ondo Finance, Coinhako
- SBI Holdings: $308B+ assets under custody; 14M+ users; Japan's largest online securities firm
- SBI Chairman Kitao: "establish a global corridor for digital assets by connecting exchanges worldwide"
- Areta's Joseph Goh: "first financial group in Asia to go after the entire digital asset value chain at once"
- JPYSC limitation: currently restricted to SBI VC Trade accounts; no external wallet support
- Bitbank acquisition: pending JFTC approval; expected close October 2026
Why It Matters
SBI is assembling a vertically integrated digital asset empire that spans issuance (JPYSC), tokenization (Ondo), settlement (Solana), exchange (SBI VC Trade, Bitbank, Coinhako), and distribution (SBI Securities). No other Asian financial group is building every layer at once. The Coinhako acquisition gives SBI a regulated Southeast Asian hub to complement its Japanese operations. The key constraint is whether JPYSC ever leaves SBI's own walls — without external wallet support, the settlement rail remains a closed loop.