SBI Financial Services, a subsidiary of Japanese SBI Holdings Inc, acquired UK-based cryptocurrency trading firm B2C2 last week. This marks the first major financial group to run a digital asset desk. SBI purchased a 90% stake in B2C2 but SBI clients have been able to trade through the B2C2 platform since July, when it acquired a minority stake in the firm.
Founded in 2015, B2C2 is one of the world's most popular crypto trading companies for institutional investors. The new acquisition will bring more trading opportunities to both SBI and B2C2, increasing their ability to attract mainstream financial firms looking to invest in crypto. Yoshitaka Kitao, president and CEO of SBI Holdings, says that B2C2's vision and expertise complements SBI's stating "we look forward to working in partnership as we expand out footprint across global markets."
Max Boonen, founder and CEO of B2C2, speaks to Bitcoin's new all time high as once again proving that crypto assets are "not negligible in the financial industry." This is just the start. On track with this, S&P Dow Jones announced a crypto index in 2021 and Fidelity Investments have started to safeguard virtual coins.