Japan’s SBI Holdings signed a letter of intent Friday to take control of Coinhako. The Singapore-licensed crypto exchange would become a consolidated subsidiary if the deal closes.
SBI Ventures Asset—a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tokyo-listed financial conglomerate—will inject capital into Coinhako’s parent company Holdbuild and buy shares from existing investors. The structure gives SBI a majority stake. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
The deal is nonbinding. Regulatory approval is required.
“Bringing Coinhako into the SBI Group as a consolidated subsidiary is not merely an investment in a single platform,” SBI chairman and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said in the announcement. He framed the acquisition as infrastructure building—digital assets, tokenized securities, stablecoins. International reach.
SBI gets a licensed base in Singapore. That matters. The city-state is one of Asia’s most regulated crypto hubs, with clear frameworks and institutional participation. Coinhako operates through Hako Technology, a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The company also runs Alpha Hako, a virtual asset service provider registered with the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.
This isn’t SBI’s first Coinhako investment. In 2021, the Japanese firm put money into the exchange through the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity Fund, a joint vehicle with Switzerland’s Sygnum Bank. The new deal converts that stake into control.
Coinhako co-founder and CEO Yusho Liu said the partnership would help the exchange “scale institutional-grade systems and meet surging demand for tokenized assets and stablecoins, ensuring Singapore remains at the heart of the world’s next-generation financial system.”
Tokenization keeps coming up. SBI has been methodical about building that infrastructure across Asia. In December 2025, the company partnered with Web3 infrastructure firm Startale Group to develop a regulated Japanese yen stablecoin. The token targets tokenized asset markets and cross-border settlement. Shinsei Trust & Banking—a unit of SBI Shinsei Bank—will issue and redeem it. Licensed crypto exchange SBI VC Trade will handle circulation.
That followed an August partnership with Chainlink to build digital asset tools for financial institutions across Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. The pattern is consistent: regulated infrastructure, institutional focus, stablecoin and tokenization rails.
Singapore fits that playbook. The MAS has spent years building a framework that attracts serious capital without the regulatory chaos seen in other jurisdictions. Major Payment Institution licenses require strict compliance, capital reserves, and operational standards. Coinhako has that license. So does SBI VC Trade in Japan. The regulatory alignment makes integration easier.
Question is execution. Letters of intent don’t always close. The deal structure is still under discussion. Ownership details remain undisclosed. Both sides need regulatory sign-off from the MAS and likely Japanese authorities. That process can take months.
But the strategic logic is clear. SBI wants a regional hub outside Japan. Singapore offers access to Southeast Asian retail and institutional markets, plus a regulatory environment that supports tokenized securities and stablecoin issuance. Coinhako has the license and local relationships. SBI has the balance sheet and institutional partnerships.
The timing aligns with broader institutional crypto adoption in Asia. Hong Kong reopened to retail crypto trading in 2023. Singapore never closed. South Korea is moving toward clearer stablecoin regulation. Japan has had crypto regulation since 2017. The infrastructure layer is getting built—exchanges, custody, tokenization platforms, stablecoin issuers.
SBI is positioning across that stack. The company operates SBI VC Trade, one of Japan’s largest licensed exchanges. It holds stakes in crypto custody providers and blockchain infrastructure firms. It’s developing regulated stablecoins. Now it’s adding a Singapore-licensed exchange with MPI status and regional reach.
The Coinhako deal would give SBI three regulated exchange platforms: SBI VC Trade in Japan, Coinhako in Singapore, and exposure to Alpha Hako’s BVI operations. That’s coverage across three jurisdictions with different regulatory approaches but increasing coordination on stablecoin and tokenization standards.
Cointelegraph reached out to SBI for additional comment. No response by publication.
For now, the deal is a letter of intent. Structure under discussion. Timeline unclear. But the direction is obvious: SBI is building regulated crypto infrastructure across Asia’s key hubs, with Singapore as the Southeast Asian anchor.
Next step: regulatory approval and final deal structure. Both sides have incentive to close. Question is timing and whether existing Coinhako investors agree to exit terms.
