SBI Holdings has opened formal capital and business alliance talks with Bitbank Inc. The Japanese financial group wants to make the country’s third-largest crypto exchange a consolidated subsidiary.

The disclosure came on May 1, 2026, weeks after SBI merged SBI VC Trade with Bitpoint Japan. That earlier deal expanded its crypto footprint inside Japan.

Path to Japan’s Top Crypto Exchange Operator

If completed, the new deal would lift the SBI group above bitFlyer and Coincheck by combined trading volume. That outcome would make SBI the largest exchange operator in Japan’s regulated market.

Sota Watanabe, chief executive of Startale Group, framed the move as a turning point for the sector.

SBI plans to buy bitbank, the…