Japan's SBI and Rakuten enter the crypto trust market! The first wave supports Bitcoin products, allowing retail investors to place orders directly through the app.

Japan’s SBI and Rakuten Securities are in the process of preparing Bitcoin investment trust products, lowering the threshold for retail investors to access digital assets. This move shows that Japan’s traditional financial sector is accelerating its integration with the cryptocurrency market.

Japan’s Major Brokerage Firms Accelerate Crypto Investment Market Deployment

Two of Japan’s largest online brokerages, SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities, have recently been reported to be actively preparing cryptocurrency investment trust products. In the future, they will provide Japanese retail investors with investment services for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin ($BTC) directly through their own apps and investment platforms. After the news was made public, the market also viewed it as an important signal that Japan’s traditional financial system is further integrating with cryptocurrencies.

According to a report by Nikkei News, the two companies are currently studying the launch of investment trust products centered on Bitcoin and assessing the possibility of including other digital assets such as Ethereum ($ETH) in the future. In addition to SBI and Rakuten, Japan’s large financial institution Nomura has also been reported to participate in related planning, indicating that Japan’s financial industry’s stance toward the tokenization of digital-asset products is changing rapidly.

Because investment trusts are among the most familiar financial products for Japanese retail investors, the market believes this will help lower the barrier for ordinary investors to access cryptocurrencies. Compared with directly opening an exchange account, managing private keys, or using on-chain wallets, purchasing crypto investment products through existing brokerage platforms is more acceptable to traditional Japanese investors.

Brokerages Hope to Replicate the U.S. Bitcoin ETF Boom

Market analysis suggests that this deployment by Japanese brokerages is largely driven by the success of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. After U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved, large amounts of institutional and traditional capital began flowing into the crypto market, prompting Asian financial institutions to reassess related opportunities.

However, Japan has not yet officially opened spot crypto ETFs, so investment trusts have become a more accessible alternative. Because Japan’s financial regulation is relatively conservative in reviewing ETF products, brokerages currently prefer to test the waters first through investment trust forms, and then observe subsequent regulatory developments and market demand.

• The SBI Group has been deeply involved in the digital asset industry for a long time, and its businesses include a crypto exchange, blockchain investments, and Web3 operations.
• Rakuten continues to integrate financial services within its own ecosystem, including securities, banking, payments, and points systems.

Now that both sides are rolling out crypto trusts in tandem, it also means that major online financial platforms are starting to view crypto assets as part of mainstream wealth management products.

Japan’s Regulatory Attitude Gradually Shifting Toward Openness

In recent years, Japan’s government has gradually shifted its stance on cryptocurrency regulation toward a more pragmatic approach. Although Japan became one of the world’s earliest countries to strengthen regulation following major incidents such as Mt.Gox and Coincheck, it also established relatively mature exchange management systems and user protection rules as a result. As the global financial market increasingly accepts digital assets, Japan’s Financial Services Agency in recent years has also begun discussing relaxing certain restrictions on crypto products, including tax reforms, stablecoin frameworks, and standards for institutional investment products.

The market generally believes that Japan is trying to find a new balance between risk management and financial innovation. On the other hand, Japanese retail investors are not unfamiliar with highly volatile assets. From forex margin trading and overseas stocks to AI and semiconductor concept stocks in recent years, Japan’s retail investment market has always had highly active characteristics. Now that major brokerages are beginning to actively promote crypto products, it may further accelerate the speed at which retail capital enters the digital asset market.

The Boundaries Between Traditional Finance and the Crypto Market Are Gradually Blurring

As brokerages, banks, and asset management companies continue to enter the crypto market, the line between traditional finance and digital assets is also rapidly becoming less distinct. In the past, cryptocurrencies mainly relied on native exchanges and on-chain platforms, but now they are increasingly being packaged as traditional financial products and are entering more asset allocation options for ordinary investors.

Industry figures point out that the biggest advantage of Japan’s large brokerages is that they already have a massive retail base and mature app ecosystems. Once crypto investment trusts are officially launched, users can directly buy Bitcoin-related products through familiar platforms.

If Japan further opens up spot crypto ETFs in the future, or allows more digital-asset financial products to be listed, competition in Asia’s crypto market could intensify. In particular, as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi have continued to actively compete for Web3 financial hub status in recent years, Japan’s renewed acceleration in deployment also indicates a clear change in the attitude of major Asian financial markets toward cryptocurrencies.