LONDON (Reuters) – SBI Monetary Companies, a subsidiary of Japanese group SBI Holdings Inc, has acquired UK-based cryptocurrency buying and selling agency B2C2 and can change into the primary main monetary group to run a digital asset dealing desk, the businesses mentioned on Tuesday.
Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
Based in 2015, B2C2 is likely one of the best-known cryptocurrency buying and selling firms. It helps brokerages, exchanges and fund managers make giant trades in digital cash.
SBI has been permitting its shoppers to commerce by B2C2’s platform since July, when it acquired a minority stake within the crypto agency.
The businesses hope the acquisition will create the counterparty of selection for mainstream monetary corporations seeking to put money into cryptocurrencies, they mentioned.
“Their (B2C2’s) imaginative and prescient, experience and providing complement SBI’s, and we sit up for working in partnership as we increase our footprint throughout the worldwide markets,” mentioned Yoshitaka Kitao, president and CEO of SBI Holdings.
The deal, which marks the most recent transfer by a big monetary establishment in crypto, may assist make the nascent asset class extra mainstream.
It comes as bitcoin continues to soar to file highs towards the greenback, backed by rising demand from traders who see the digital foreign money as a hedge towards inflation and a safe-haven asset.
Whereas cryptocurrencies have been round for greater than a decade they’ve been attracting established monetary firms over the previous couple of years.
S&P Dow Jones Indices introduced earlier this month that it might launch cryptocurrency indexes in 2021, whereas Constancy Investments and Japan’s Nomura Holdings Inc have began safeguarding digital cash for institutional traders.
Such companies are serving to make the asset class extra accessible for establishments.
“Lots of people have been dismissive for a very long time,” Max Boonen, B2C2’s founder, mentioned in an interview. “Bitcoin’s worth at an all-time excessive has put considerations to relaxation.”
As a part of the acquisition B2C2’s group in Japan will transfer into the SBI’s places of work, Boonen mentioned. He expects B2C2’s group to develop to 70 folks over the approaching months from the present 50.
Reporting by Anna Irrera in London; Enhancing by Matthew Lewis
