SBI Group

SBI Group (Strategic Business Innovator Group) is a Japanese group of financial services companies. A pioneering online financial services company founded in 1999. The company has created the world's first online financial services ecosystem, providing the ability to transact with securities and offering banking and insurance services online.

For 2020, SBI Holdings brings together more than 250 leading fintech companies, high-tech and biotechnology projects in Asia. SBI Holdings Group is one of the leaders in internet banking in Japan and South Korea, as well as the global leader in blockchain technology. Under the management of SBI Holdings for November 2020 - investment funds in the amount of $8.2 billion.

In addition to financial services, the holding includes an asset management company focused on venture capital investments as well as biotechnology projects. 

The company's investments include OpenLegacy, Cyrrencycloud, Sendo and Elliptic - all of which are developing promising international projects in areas such as e-commerce, information technology and payment services.

History

2022: SBI Holdings closes mining business in Russia, losses from this amounted to $72 million

In August 2022, it became known that the Japanese SBI Holdings will close the mining business in Russia due to the fall in the bitcoin exchange rate and the risks associated with the conflict in Ukraine. In April 2022, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against BitRiver, an operator of data centers for mining.

A company representative, in response to a request Bloomberg , explained that Russia's special military operation in Ukraine created uncertainty about the prospects for mining business in Siberia, and the fall of the global market made cryptocurrencies token mining less profitable.

Japanese company lost tens of millions of dollars due to mining stop in Russia

The company suspended cryptocurrency production in Russia after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, which led to losses of 9.7 billion yen ($72 million) for the second quarter of 2022. This was the first loss-making quarter of the company in ten years, the news agency notes.

The company representative added that the holding had not yet decided by mid-August 2022 when it would complete its exit from the Russian mining business, and added that the Moscow commercial banking division of SBI, SBI Bank LLC, would continue to operate in Russia.

Russia has been one of the popular places for cryptomining in recent years thanks to cheap electricity. At the same time, according to the Center for Alternative Finance of the University of Cambridge, already in the period from August 2021 to January 2022, Russia's share in the mining sector decreased from 11.23% to 4.66%. According to experts, this is due to the fact that miners were repelled by possible political risks and the negative attitude of the Central Bank of Russia towards mining.

The situation worsened after the US authorities imposed sanctions against the Swiss BitRiver, which had mining farms in the Russian Federation. Many representatives of the industry working in Russia began to fear that they could fall under the restrictive measures. BitRiver insists that it is not a government agency, but a private company that in no way helps the Russian Federation bypass sanctions. In April 2022, the IMF warned that cryptocurrency mining could allow Russia to bypass Western sanctions.^[1]

2021: Agreement with RDIF and RYAIF on investments in SBI Bank

The capital of SBI Bank (a subsidiary of the Japanese holding SBI Holdings in Russia) will include the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Russian-Japanese Investment Fund (RYAIF, established by RDIF, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and JBIC IG Partners). On January 25, 2021, investors signed an agreement on capital investments in the amount of 1 billion rubles with the Japanese corporation SBI Holdings, the sole participant of SBI Bank. Read more here.

2017: Investments in promising Japanese and foreign FinTech projects

According to information as of May 2017, SBI Group invests through SBI Investment Co., Ltd., created by it. Foundation name: FinTech Business Innovation LPS. The total size of the fund is $300 million. The fund invests in promising Japanese and foreign FinTech projects and companies developing blockchain technologies.

1999: Founding of the Company

The group of companies was founded in 1999 and was called SoftBank Investment. The main office is located in Tokyo.

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