[SBI Holdings Initiates Capital Business Cooperation Negotiations with bitbank, Plans to Make it a Subsidiary] According to CoinPost, Japan's SBI Holdings has officially initiated negotiations for capital business cooperation with the operating company of the cryptocurrency exchange bitbank, aiming to make bitbank a consolidated subsidiary of SBI. Last month, SBI Group completed the absorption merger of SBI VC Trade with bitpoint Japan, and this move is seen as a proactive strategy under the backdrop of strengthened regulations as crypto assets are incorporated into the framework of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. bitbank is renowned for its security record of zero hacking incidents and had planned to go public in the second half of 2025. In 2021, it signed a capital business cooperation agreement with mixi, raising approximately 7 billion yen. Following SBI's acquisition of bitbank, it will form Japan's largest cryptocurrency platform group.