Financial services giant SBI Holdings in Tokyo launched its SBI Virtual Currencies (SBIVC) exchange in 2018. One fiscal year later, the exchange currently boasts profits of approximately 360 million yen (US$3.2 million), according to Cointelegraph Japan.

The new crypto exchange was first announced in April 2018 and went online in June 2018. Account registration was later open in July 2018. The amount of orders has grown ever since.

Building on the exchange’s success, SBI revealed in a recent financial report that it is planning to launch a security token offering (STO) by the end of this year. According to the report, the revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act is to come into force in June 2019, which opens up an opportunity for the launch of its new service.

SBI is anticipating an increase in the mining hash rate with its new investment, crypto mining arm SBI Mining Chip (SBIMC), and expects to maintain a strong bond with Ripple, its key business partner that plays a major role in spurring XRP, now the third-largest crypto by market capitalization. Ripple and SBI appear to be maintaining strong relations, with Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO and representative director from SBI, taking on the role of an executive of Ripple Labs.

From its launch, cryptocurrencies supported by SBIVC included Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). However, it plans to stop supporting Bitcoin Cash, according to the exchange’s official report in April. The token’s removal has been rumored to be due to many non-Japanese exchanges delisting Bitcoin SV (BSV), a controversial hard fork of its network. SBI denies any connection to the other delistings.

Source: cointelegraph.com

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