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Japan’s two financial heavyweights are moving fast. SBI Holdings and Rakuten Group are both building their own cryptocurrency investment trusts, pushed into action by a regulatory overhaul that’s basically rewritten the rulebook for digital assets in the country.
Last month, Japan’s cabinet approved legislation that reclassifies crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. That’s a pretty big deal. Before this change, the legal framework around crypto was murky enough that large financial institutions had real trouble structuring compliant investment products. The reclassification is meant to clear that path — giving firms like SBI and Rakuten a cleaner legal basis to offer crypto-based products to retail and institutional clients alike. Regulatory approval for the actual trusts is still pending, so neither company is live yet. But both are moving forward with development, and the market is watching closely.
SBI Holdings Moves on Digital Assets
SBI Holdings isn’t new to crypto. The firm has been an active player in the digital asset space for years, building positions across exchanges, blockchain investments, and crypto-related financial services. So the move into investment trusts isn’t a pivot — it’s probably more of an extension. By creating an in-house crypto investment trust, SBI wants to fold digital assets directly into its broader financial services lineup, making them accessible to retail investors who want crypto exposure without having to manage wallets or navigate exchanges themselves.
That’s a real gap in the market. A lot of retail investors are curious about crypto but won’t touch it if it means setting up a self-custody wallet. A regulated investment trust changes that equation entirely — it’s familiar, it’s structured, and it sits inside the kind of account people already have. SBI seems to be betting that demand is there, waiting.
And it’s not a small bet. Developing an in-house product means SBI takes on the compliance burden directly, rather than partnering with an external crypto service provider. That’s harder, but it probably gives them more control over fees, product design, and how fast they can move when regulations shift again.
Rakuten’s Fintech Push Into Crypto Trusts
Rakuten’s angle is a bit different. The company is best known for e-commerce and its sprawling fintech ecosystem — Rakuten Pay, Rakuten Bank, Rakuten Securities. It’s got the technology infrastructure and, crucially, a massive existing user base that already trusts it with money. Building a crypto investment trust lets Rakuten drop a new product into that ecosystem without starting from scratch.
The company plans to use its technology infrastructure to handle the digital asset management side — security, custody, transaction processing. No details yet on which specific cryptocurrencies the trust would hold, or what the fee structure looks like. Unclear, too, whether Rakuten’s trust would be aimed primarily at its existing retail customers or pitched more broadly.
But the logic is pretty clear. Rakuten has spent years building financial services on top of its e-commerce base. Crypto is the obvious next layer.
What the Regulatory Shift Actually Means
Japan’s decision to bring crypto under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act isn’t just paperwork. It means digital assets now sit in a legal category alongside stocks and bonds — with all the investor protection rules, disclosure requirements, and compliance standards that come with that. For firms like SBI and Rakuten, that’s actually good news. It’s harder to build products under stricter rules, but it’s also harder for competitors without serious compliance infrastructure to enter the space.
The reclassification is also a signal. Japan has been cautious about crypto since the Mt. Gox collapse and the Coincheck hack rattled confidence in the market years ago. Moving crypto under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act is a deliberate choice to integrate digital assets into the mainstream financial system rather than keep them walled off in a separate, lighter-touch regulatory bucket.
That shift matters for investor confidence. A crypto investment trust backed by SBI or Rakuten, sitting under the same legal framework as a stock fund, looks very different to a cautious retail investor than a crypto exchange account does.
Both companies still need full regulatory sign-off before anything launches. The approval process will be the real test — not just of whether the trusts get greenlit, but of how quickly Japan’s regulators can process applications under the new framework. Other financial institutions in the region are probably watching that timeline very carefully.
SBI Holdings and Rakuten Group are well-positioned to move fast once approvals come through. Between them, they’ve got the technology, the customer base, and the compliance muscle to launch at scale.
Regulatory approval remains pending for both firms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What regulation is driving Japan’s crypto investment trust development?
Japan’s cabinet approved legislation reclassifying crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, making it easier for financial institutions to offer crypto-based investment products.
Are SBI Holdings and Rakuten’s crypto investment trusts available to investors yet?
No — both companies are developing their products but are still waiting for full regulatory approval before launching.
