In a span of weeks spanning late June through mid-July 2026, Japan’s SBI Group executed a series of moves that, taken together, look less like opportunistic deal-making and more like a deliberate blueprint: acquire exchanges, launch a stablecoin, fund the infrastructure layer, and lock in a tokenization partner.
SBI’s traditional finance footprint already exceeds $250 billion. Now it’s using that scale as a launchpad for what the company calls its “onchain transformation” strategy.
The deal sheet is substantial
On June 25, 2026, SBI agreed to buy Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank for approximately $289 million. The combined custody figure after the deal reaches roughly 1.1 trillion yen, which translates to around $7 billion depending on where the yen sits on any given afternoon.
One day earlier, on June 24, SBI launched JPYSC, described as Japan’s first trust bank-backed stablecoin. It’s pegged 1:1 to the yen and comes with a 3% yield lending option attached.
In early July, SBI stepped in as the sole investor in Gauntlet’s $125 million Series C. Gauntlet is a risk modeling firm that helps DeFi protocols optimize parameters. Following that, SBI anchored EDX Markets’ $76 million Series C. EDX Markets is a crypto exchange built specifically to serve institutional clients.
Earlier in 2026, SBI also secured a controlling stake in Singapore-based Coinhako, giving it a regulated exchange foothold in one of Southeast Asia’s most crypto-forward jurisdictions. Then on July 16, SBI announced a partnership with Ondo Finance to tokenize Japanese equities and use JPYSC as the settlement layer for those transactions.
Why this matters beyond the deal announcements
SBI Ripple Asia has been promoting RippleNet and the XRP Ledger for cross-border payments since 2016. The Ondo Finance partnership, which uses JPYSC for settlement, slots into that existing infrastructure thesis.
Pending legislation would classify digital assets as financial instruments under Japanese law, which would materially change how institutional investors can allocate to the space. A gradual reduction of capital gains tax on crypto holdings is also moving through the policy pipeline.
What investors should watch
The JPYSC stablecoin is the linchpin of SBI’s strategy. A trust bank-backed, yield-bearing yen stablecoin that settles tokenized Japanese equities is genuinely novel infrastructure. If institutional uptake materializes, it creates a closed-loop system where SBI touches the asset, the settlement layer, the exchange, and the risk modeling.
Gauntlet operates at the protocol risk layer of DeFi. SBI’s sole-investor status in that $125 million round suggests the company wants influence over how risk frameworks are built, not just exposure to upside.
EDX Markets is explicitly designed to give institutional investors a regulated venue that separates market making from exchange operations. SBI anchoring that $76 million round puts it at the center of institutional crypto market structure in the US as well as Asia.
Watch JPYSC adoption volumes, Coinhako’s market share trajectory in Singapore, and whether the Ondo Finance tokenization partnership produces real transaction flow.