Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings Inc (Strategic Business Innovator) is negotiating to set up a joint cryptocurrency venture with international financial firms. Reuters reported that SBI aims to extend its current crypto activities and make it a major revenue source.
SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said that the merger and acquisition strategy is to collaborate with other leading crypto companies around the world to grow its market as its source of profit.
Since 2018, SBI has already been involved in the cryptocurrency scene and just last 2020, a leading crypto news source CryptoPotato reported that they were able to acquire B2C2, a cryptocurrency liquidity provider from the United Kingdom. The Japanese financial giant purchased a local crypto exchange, Tao Tao, prior to the B2C2 acquisition offer.
In November of the same year, SBI also launched a crypto lending service, which allowed users to lend Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP (Ripple).
Kitao sees that the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum can be an alternative investment that will be soon penetrated by global investors because of the rapid growth of the market.
‘Our option is to acquire a leading company or build an alliance with major global corporations to become the world’s number one. Our M&A approach is not going to be close to taking minority stakes in many businesses. Investors once lived in a world where stocks or bonds were invested, it is no longer an either-or situation,’ CEO Kitao stated.
Kitao also added that this venture will be one of the company’s key earners. According to the chief executives of SBI, there have already been at least two deals up for discussion regarding the planned crypto joint venture. However, they did not announce the names of their future business partners yet.
Their move of making a joint venture is the product of increasing institutional interest in cryptocurrency assets. Kitao stated that via large-scale mergers and acquisitions, the company intends to extend its crypto market.
‘Recently, institutional investors, mainly hedge funds, have begun investing in cryptocurrencies not only institutional investors, but Elon Musk as well,’ Kitao further remarked.
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