According to Nikkei news, Japanese financial group SBI announced that it will spend 46.7 billion yen ($289 million) to acquire the crypto asset exchange Bitbank. Under the plan, SBI Holdings’ subsidiary will purchase shares from Bitbank’s founders and individual shareholders in August. Bitbank will then repurchase the shares held by MIXI and Ceres before the end of October. After the acquisition is completed, Bitbank will become a consolidated subsidiary of SBI. The total custodial assets of the two parties after the merger are expected to reach approximately 1.1 trillion yen (about $6.2 billion), making it No. 1 in Japan’s crypto industry.