In an aggressive push to expanding its business and establishing a strong footing in the crypto space, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings is seeking to form cryptocurrency joint ventures with some of the top foreign financial firms. SBI Holdings has, as such been an advocate of crypto developments and is also a close partner with the San Francisco-based blockchain firm Ripple.
Speaking to Reuters, SBI Holdings founder Yoshitaka Kitao said that the development comes as since cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have been drawing huge institutional interest in recent times. Besides, they have emerged as alternative investment targets to traditional assets like gold and bonds.
Kitao told Reuters that while investors once lived on choosing investments between stocks and bonds, it’s no longer a similar situation. He added:
“Institutional investors, mainly hedge funds, have recently started investing in cryptocurrencies…Not just institutional investors but also Elon Musk has”.
We all know how Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase has sparked massive corporate interest in Bitcoin. Over the last week, top corporates like Uber and Twitter have shown interest in BTC either through offering payment services or by adding it to their balance sheets. Even banking giants like JPMorgan, BNY Mellon and Morgan Stanley have show interest in Bitcoin.
Speaking to Reuters, Kitao said that there are two deals currently underway for the cryptocurrency joint ventures with companies. However, he declined to elaborate further on this point. SBI is themselves offering crypto trading services to its customers since 2018.
The biggest online brokerage firm in Japan is now looking to expand its portfolio. In 2020, SBI Holdings acquired a local Japanese crypto exchange Tao Tao. Besides, it also acquired a 90% stake in London-based market maker B2C2.
Kitao is hopeful that its crypto trading business will turn out to be a big revenue-generating stream for the company going ahead. He added that his company is looking ahead to large-scale mergers and acquisitions.
For a period of nine months through December 2020, the company’s pretax profit stood at 6.7 billion yen, and 83% surge during the same period in 2019.
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