SBI Holdings now has two cryptocurrency trading firms as it has bought all the shares in Japanese exchange TaoTao.
There are no financial details about the acquisition. According to the announcement, SBI Liquidity Market, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI, bought the firm from existing shareholder Z Fund No. 1 Investment Business.
As a result of the deal Tokyo-based crypto exchange TaoTao has been turned into a wholly owned subsidiary.
SBI already has its trading service at SBI VC Trade and had been “studying to further expand this business”.
TaoTao was founded in May 2017. Yahoo Japan’s forex broker YJFX previously owned 40% in the firm. TaoTao unveiled its crypto trading service in May 2019.
There weren’t a lot of details from SBI about the TaoTao development, but its interest in the crypto (and blockchain) space is well known.
In August Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group took a stake in the SBI-R3 joint venture as they look to develop and promote the use of blockchain.
SBI R3 Japan began operations in April 2019 to support the provision and operation of Corda licences in Japan.
Prior to that, SBI picked up a 10% share in the Fujitsu-Nomura digital asset project Boostry in Japan.
As a result of the tradetech deal, Boostry will own 56% of the shares, with 34% belonging to Nomura Research Institute.