“We are serious about Bitcoin” - Japanese financial giant SBI announces cryptocurrency mining plan

SBI Holdings, the financial services arm of Japan’s SBI Group, has unveiled plans to further expand into the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

In its most recent earnings release, SBI announced plans to “build a new financial ecosystem based on cryptocurrency,” which includes joint research into “systematic knowledge” of blockchain technology.

To solve the existing problems in the cryptocurrency market, the financial company hopes to directly acquire cryptocurrencies, including mining. At the same time, they also plan to build cryptocurrency applications and provide investment opportunities. In the future, SBI will use "cryptocurrencies for remittances, trade finance and payments."

The company said:

SBI Group will try its best to acquire cryptocurrencies in order to further develop its products and services and ensure market liquidity. The ways to acquire cryptocurrencies include mining (Bitcoin and BCC) and investing in Ripple (10.5%).

As a strong force entering the cryptocurrency industry, the company also reiterated its plans to build a "large-scale cryptocurrency trading platform."

SBI has shown a strong interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency since 2016, initially investing in Japanese exchange bitFlyer, and later choosing to test the technology itself.

In September, SBI and blockchain payments startup Ripple announced they would use distributed ledger technology (DLT) to test a system for transferring funds between banks in Japan and South Korea.