SBI completes full acquisition of crypto exchange Bitbank, bringing it under the SBI Group

PANews reported on October 1 that Japanese crypto asset exchange Bitbank announced SBI Holdings has completed its full acquisition of the company, making Bitbank a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings.

According to the announcement, Bitbank had previously reached an agreement with SBI Holdings on becoming a wholly owned subsidiary, and the transaction was completed through procedures including Bitbank repurchasing its own shares from MIXI and Ceres. With the completion of the transaction, Bitbank's management has also been adjusted. Tomohiko Kondo, president of SBI VC Trade Co., Ltd., a crypto asset trading platform under the SBI Group, will become a director of Bitbank; Noriyuki Hirosue, Bitbank's current representative director and CEO, is expected to become an outside director of SBI VC Trade.

Bitbank stated that, as a member of the SBI Group, it will leverage the group's financial business capabilities, customer base and resources to promote the development of crypto asset trading and digital asset-related businesses. The company said the completion of this transaction will not affect Bitbank's existing services, and users can continue to use the platform normally.