Japanese Giant SBI Holdings Plans to Form Joint Cryptocurrency Venture

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings revealed that it was planning to establish a joint cryptocurrency venture that would serve as one of the company’s key earners.

SBI Expanding Crypto Services

According to Reuters on Monday (Feb. 15, 2021), SBI’s founder and CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, the company was discussing with international financial firms to set up the new crypto business. The latest development was part of SBI’s plans to expand its crypto business.

The company has been active in the crypto industry since 2018. As reported by CryptoPotato back in December 2020, SBI acquired B2C2, a UK-based cryptocurrency liquidity provider. Prior to the B2C2 acquisition deal, the Japanese financial giant bought a local crypto exchange, Tao Tao. SBI also launched a crypto lending service in November, which allowed users to lend BTC, ETH, and XRP.

Furthermore, Kitao said the company was also looking at making large scale mergers and acquisitions, adding:

“To become number one in the world, our choice is buying a leading company or creating an alliance with major global companies. Our M&A strategy will not be something like taking minority stakes in many companies.”

Kitao speaking on the new business said the venture would be one of the company’s main earners. The SBI top executive also revealed that at least two deals were up for discussion concerning the proposed crypto joint venture business. However, Kitao did not reveal the names of the possible partners.

Cryptocurrency Investment Now Inevitable, Says SBI CEO

The SBI CEO also noted the increased institutional investment in bitcoin. According to Kitao, gone were the days when the only things people invested in were stocks and bonds. The SBI Chief added:

“Institutional investors, mainly hedge funds, have recently started investing in cryptocurrencies…Not just institutional investors but also Elon Musk has.”

As previously reported by CryptoPotato, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin, with possible plans to make the flagship crypto a payment method for its products.

SBI is among the few companies that have shown support for Ripple in the latter’s lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the SBI CEO, XRP was not regarded as securities in Japan, adding that it was optimistic Ripple would win the case.