SBI Holdings Buys B2C2 for Attracting Institutional Crypto Traders

There is an increasing number of firms that are trying to attract institutional crypto investors and SBI Holdings has now joined this list. This week, the company completed its acquisition of a British crypto trading firm known as B2C2. An official announcement by the company stated that SBI Holdings had bought 90% of the crypto trading firm. SBI Holdings explained that both companies would now be working on expanding their trading opportunities for all those mainstream financial institutions that are interested in cryptocurrencies. The chief executive and founder of B2C2, Max Boonen said that the move was in accordance with the company’s desire to expand its user base.

He also stated that cryptocurrencies had now become an essential element of the global financial industry. According to the CEO, cryptocurrencies would continue to have a huge impact on the financial market in the next decade. The company had chosen to enter into a partnership with SBI Holdings in order to stay at the forefront of this financial evolution. The President and chief executive of SBI, Yoshitaka Kitao, also praised the partnership and the excellent technology used by B2C2. 

He said that the British firm had world-class products and services, an excellent customer base, and excellent technology in the crypto space and is well-respected worldwide. He said that they were confident of generating good synergies with SBI Holdings. B2C2 had been established less than a decade ago and it has become one of the top crypto firms in the world. Other than the United Kingdom, the company also has its offices in the United States and Japan. Boonen said that the Japanese officials of B2C2 would move into SBI’s offices after the acquisition. The company will also hire 20 additional staff for improving its workforce. This deal is also not the first contact between SBI and B2C2. 

In July, SBI Financial Services Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of SBI, had invested in B2C2. The investment had been valued at $30 million at the time and was around 3.2 billion yen, which provided SBI a minority stake in the company that hadn’t been disclosed. Other than the acquisition, SBI had also enabled its clients to use the B2C2 platform for trading directly. The acquisition of B2C2 is the second play that SBI Holdings has made this month for attracting institutional investors. A partnership was announced on December 8th by SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the crypto-focused subsidiary of the firm, with the SIX Digital Exchange for launching a venture in Singapore.

The partners talked at the FinTech Singapore Festival and explained that their new joint platform was targeting institutional investors by merging SIX and SBI’s market enterprise. This will provide a number of services, including issuing, trading, and listing of digital assets. The platform will also offer regulated and custody digital asset securities. The platform is expected to launch in 2022, as long as it is able to get approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which will help taking it forward.