The Japanese financial services company SBI Group revealed its plans to create a "new financial ecosystem based on cryptocurrencies". Eight different businesses related to encryption are being developed simultaneously, including mining, hedge fund management and a derivatives market.
At the company's earnings performance briefing, President and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao detailed how the company is "looking for synergies between its current financial ecosystem and its new financial ecosystem based on cryptocurrency."
The new financial ecosystem consists of eight cryptocurrency businesses: exchange platforms; management of hedge funds; financing; mining; ICO and exchange platform rating information services; a derivatives market; remittance services; and transaction / payment services.
"Each of the previous businesses" will be developed simultaneously to seek synergy and mutual evolution, "wrote the SBI Group.
The company's presentation describes the details of each business it is launching.
The group plans to establish "a dominant cryptocurrency exchange platform, in the midst of other platforms, based on the 'client-centered principle.'" His domestic cryptocurrency exchange was one of the first eleven bitcoin exchanges in Japan to receive the Register of the Financial Services Agency of the country (FSA) last month.
The SBI Group is also preparing to establish a cryptocurrency exchange platform in Hong Kong. The company wrote:
"Currently the appropriate time is waiting to start the exchange service, where the key decision factors are the progress of SBI Crypto mining, together with the situation of hard fork splitting."
Mining is a key commercial area in which SBI Group is venturing. Citing an attack risk of 51% of the miners who control most of the mining power of the network, the group announced that it will "acquire cryptocurrencies through mining, in order to stabilize the market."
In addition, SBI Group plans to contribute to the "stabilization of the market by providing new commercial opportunities in cryptocurrency for institutional investors", through the creation of a cryptographic derivatives market and the management of encryption hedge funds. The company wrote:
"To stabilize volatility in virtual currencies, the participation of institutional investors that make long-term investments is expected."
The group already has a remittance business through a subsidiary called SBI Remit that uses Ripple. In May of last year, SBI Ripple Asia was established to carry out a "remittance revolution" in Asia.
The last two companies refer to initial offers of currencies (ICO). The group's financial business will promote the issuance of "ICO and cryptocurrency bonds by companies specializing in cryptocurrency finance", beginning around the spring of 2018.
In addition, SBI Group plans to administer a cryptocurrency portal site that provides ICO classification information and information related to encryption. Earlier this month, Morningstar Japan was informed that it initiated the first ICO rating business in Japan. SBI Group is the largest shareholder of Morningstar Japan, which owns 49.54% of the company's shares.