SBI Holdings, the Tokyo-listed Japanese financial group, said on 13 February 2026 that it plans to take a majority stake in Coinhako, a Singapore digital asset trading platform. SBI Ventures Asset, a wholly owned SBI subsidiary based in Singapore, signed a letter of intent with Holdbuild, the parent company of the Coinhako group.
Under the proposal, SBI would put new capital into the Coinhako group and also buy shares from several of its existing shareholders. If the transaction is completed, Coinhako is expected to become a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings.
No price, valuation or final ownership percentage was disclosed. The companies said the method for the capital injection and the share purchases was still under discussion, and that the deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Cointelegraph described the letter of intent as nonbinding.
What Coinhako built
Coinhako runs a cryptocurrency trading platform from Singapore. Its main operating company, Hako Technology, holds a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which allows it to provide digital payment token services. The group also operates Alpha Hako, a virtual asset service provider registered with the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.
The company is led by co-founder and chief executive Yusho Liu. Holdbuild's representatives named in SBI's announcement were Liu and Gerry Eng. SBI described Coinhako as having a decade of operating experience in digital assets.
In 2021, shortly after Coinhako received in-principle approval for its MAS licence, it raised money to expand in Southeast Asia and to serve institutional and high-net-worth clients through a service called Coinhako Privé, according to Hubbis.
“Bringing Coinhako into the SBI Group as a consolidated subsidiary is not merely an investment in a single platform.”
Why SBI is buying
SBI presented the deal as part of its global digital asset strategy. Chairman and president Yoshitaka Kitao said bringing Coinhako into the group as a consolidated subsidiary was a step toward building a global corridor for digital assets and new forms of finance, including tokenised stocks and stablecoins.
The company said the two groups would work on services that connect traditional and newer forms of finance for retail and institutional clients. Cointelegraph noted that the deal would give SBI a licensed base in Singapore, one of Asia's main regulated crypto markets.
SBI has made several crypto moves in recent months. In December 2025 it partnered with Web3 infrastructure company Startale Group to develop a regulated Japanese yen stablecoin, and in August 2025 it partnered with oracle network Chainlink on digital asset tools for financial institutions, Cointelegraph reported.
The founders and the funding
SBI is not a new investor. In 2021 the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity fund, a vehicle set up by SBI Holdings, Switzerland's Sygnum Bank and Azimut, made its first investment in Coinhako. SBI Group also took part in that round, which was three times oversubscribed. The amount raised was not disclosed.
At the time, Liu said Coinhako had raised its earlier rounds from foreign venture capital firms, going back to an angel round in 2014. Coinhako has not published a total for the money it has raised.
Liu said the alignment with SBI would help Coinhako scale its institutional-grade infrastructure as demand grows for tokenised assets and stablecoins.
What happens next
The transaction still needs regulatory approval, and the terms are not final. Until then, Coinhako continues to operate under its existing MAS licence and BVI registration.
SBI's announcement said the aim was to build a next-generation digital asset business in Asia by combining Coinhako's operating experience and infrastructure with SBI's financial resources and global network. It did not say whether Coinhako's brand, management team or licences would change once the deal is completed.
SBI did not say when it expects the deal to close. Cointelegraph said it had asked SBI Holdings for comment and had not received a response by publication.
