Japan’s leading financial giant SBI Holdings announced on Monday that it had made an investment in LastRoots cryptocurrency exchange. While the amount of the investment has not been disclosed, it marks the second time that SBI Holdings has invested in the exchange.
SBI Investment, a subsidiary of Japan’s financial services giant SBI Holdings, has invested an undisclosed sum in Tokyo-based LastRoots cryptocurrency exchange, according to a company press release. The new funding comes roughly eight months after SBI’s initial investment in December 2017.
LastRoots was one of several unlicensed exchanges investigated by the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) in the aftermath of the Coincheck’s $530 million hack in January of this year. During the investigation, the FSA determined that LastRoots did not have adequate security measures in place to protect investors’ funds and issued the exchange a business improvement order in April.
SBI and LastRoots Hit the Ground Running
SBI’s latest investment in LastRoots comes on the heels of the launch of the public version of its digital currency trading platform last month. The launch was the culmination of several months spent strengthening the security of the platform in order to obtain regulatory licensing.
Regarding its plans for LastRoots, the company explained in the press release that they are “preparing to strengthen our in-house team to register the virtual currency exchange business.”
They also stated (loosely translated):
With this additional investment, the SBI Group dispatched officers to LastRoots in order to respond to the order of business improvement received by Kanto Local Finance Bureau from Kanto Local Finance Bureau on April 6, 2018 to strengthen the management system, We will support currency exchange business registration and business growth.
LastRoots is not the only cryptocurrency-related venture SBI has invested in. Some of the company’s more notable investments include:
- Hardware wallet manufacturer CoolBitX (March 2018 – undisclosed amount)
- Social trading and investment marketplace eToro (March 2018 – $100 million)
- Tokenized Asset Offering platform (TAO) Templum (April 2018 – $10 million)
SBI was also an early investor in Ripple, with $55 million invested in September 2016 through its subsidiary.
What are your thoughts on SBI’s latest investment in LastRoots? Will they be able to acquire the necessary regulatory licensing? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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