Japan’s SBI Buys B2C2 Aiming To Become A Bigger Force On The Crypto Markets In APAC

London-based crypto asset management firm B2C2 was recently bought by the financial monolith SBI Group.

According to Phillip Gillespie – the CEO of B2C2 – the spike in interest in Bitcoin that sent the most popular cryptocurrency rocketing to a $2400 price tag coincides with the interest in the asset shown by Square, PayPal, and others. However, this has also lead to a drop in the available supply of the asset.

“If an institution wants to buy crypto, there’s a bit of a problem. There are not that many places they can go right now.”

Regional Competition Heats Up

At the beginning of November, Australian Senator Andrew Bragg spoke out at the Future Of Financial Services 2020 conference – stating that Singapore’s decision to build the world’s first global data exchange showed that Australia was not the only economy in the region investing in cryptocurrencies, blockchain-based fintechs and the like – and that the Australian government would need to allocate more resources to ensure Australia stays in the lead in the very lucrative market.

“Hong Kong will still be an important gateway to China, but because of the recent turmoil there and the foreign influence laws, they won’t have the same regional headquarter attraction. We would be mad to sit idly by and allow such a lucrative share of the market to lead to Singapore or to Tokyo.”

Following a purchase of B2C2 shares worth $30 million back in July, SBI Holdings has bought up much more of the company’s stock – in fact, following the recent deal, SBI Holdings now owns 90% of the company. At the time this article was written, the price of the acquisition has not been publicly stated.

According to Ryo Suzuki – the executive director of SBI’s FX and Rates Division – the company already had the infrastructure to become a key regional player but was missing the necessary assets.

“SBI Group is the biggest internet financial group in Japan so we have the customer base. The cryptocurrency market is not mature in Japan yet, but B2C2’s expertise can provide such a service.”

Japan has now entered the APAC crypto market alongside Australia,  Singapore, and Hong Kong – now it’s time to see where the chips will fall, how the Australian government can help the local crypto industry get a leg up on the competition.