SBI Holdings, Inc. And SBI Shinsei Bank, Limited, today announced a strategic investment in Circle Internet Group, Inc., the publisher of the USDC, coupled with Circle’s registration on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5.
The total investment is equivalent to $ 50 million, with US $ 25 million contributed by SBI Holdings and SBI Shinsei Bank.
Circle’s IPO opened on USD 69 above the original 31 USD bid price and closed the first day of trading on USD 83, when it marked a significant increase of over 200%. It was the largest iPO for a Fintech company from Coinbase listed in Nasdaq in 2021.
In the midst of strong demand from many institutional investors, etc., the SBI group secured one of Circle’s largest shares.
In 2016, SBI Holdings invested in Ripple Labs, a company that develops international remittance technology using the Crypto Asset XRP and today holds about 9% of its shares as its largest external shareholder.
In 2017, the SBI group invested in R3, a company providing Corda, a private blockchain platform for financial institutions.
In addition, in 2019, the SBI group invested in Securitize, a company providing a platform for the issuance and management of digital titles in Blockchain.
Through these initiatives, the SBI Group has not only made strategic investment, but has worked with world partners to provide a wide range of services in the field of digital assets.
In March 2025, SBI VC Trade, a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings and a registered encryption asset administrator, became the first in Japan to provide the public by USDC. In addition, to accelerate the adoption of USDC in the Japanese market, an agreement was signed on the establishment of a consortium company, Circle SBI Japan KK.
Following the strategic investment in the circle, SBI Holdings – with SBI Shinsei Bank – will explore further collaboration with Circle to accelerate the common initiatives and building a platform that widely integrates USDC into the existing Japanese economic ecosystem.