SBI's Coinhako Stake: A Flow-Driven Play on APAC Crypto Liquidity

This is a major acquisition of a high-volume institutional trading engine. SBI Ventures Asset, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings, has entered into a letter of intent to acquire a majority stake in Coinhako. Upon completion, Coinhako will become a consolidated subsidiary of the SBI Group, integrating its operations directly into the parent company's financial structure.

The scale of Coinhako's existing flow is substantial. The platform recorded S$30 billion in total trading volume last year and holds S$1 billion in assets under custody. This isn't a retail-focused platform; its strategic pivot is clear. In 2024, revenue tripled to S$29.7 million, driven by a client base where 65% of trading volume now comes from institutional clients. The acquisition secures a platform already operating at institutional scale.

The immediate financial context shows a company in growth mode, investing heavily to capture institutional demand. While the revenue surge is impressive, the company's losses widened as it invested heavily in infrastructure and talent. The deal provides the capital and global network to scale this institutional flow engine, with SBI's CEO framing it as a step toward building a global corridor for digital assets.

The Flow Math: Revenue Surge vs. Profitability Trade-off

The growth story is clear, but it came at a direct cost. In 2024, Coinhako's revenue tripled to S$29.7 million, a direct result of its strategic pivot to institutional clients. However, this expansion was funded by heavy investment, causing losses to widen as the company doubled down on infrastructure and talent. The trade-off is a classic growth-at-a-cost model, where current profitability is sacrificed for market share and scale. The inflection point appears to be in sight. The CEO states the firm is proforma net profitable as of August 2025. This suggests the massive investment phase is nearing a return, with the platform's institutional engine now generating enough flow to cover its costs. The path to sustainable cash generation is now tied directly to its ability to maintain and grow this high-value client base.

The liquidity engine is the key to this transition. By offering 0% fees on OTC trades over S$200K, Coinhako attracts deep institutional flow. This creates a virtuous cycle: more volume begets deeper liquidity, which attracts even more large trades. The platform's S$30 billion in total trading volume and S$1 billion in assets under custody demonstrate the scale of this liquidity pool. The strategy is to lock in this flow at zero cost, building a dominant market position that can later support a profitable fee structure.

The SBI Ecosystem: Capitalizing on Existing Crypto Flows

SBI's Coinhako bet is not a standalone move but a strategic add-on to a pre-existing institutional crypto infrastructure. The conglomerate already owns B2C2, a global leader in institutional liquidity, providing the critical "liquidity leg" for digital assets. This was cemented in 2020 when SBI became the first bank to deal crypto by acquiring B2C2, creating a principal dealing desk that now serves institutional clients worldwide.

The alignment extends to the derivatives and tokenization layer. SBI's AsiaNext offers an institutional-only venue for trading tokenized securities and crypto derivatives, handling the "derivatives leg." This complements a recent strategic partnership with Chainlink to accelerate tokenized asset adoption, targeting real-world assets and regulated stablecoins. This builds a comprehensive ecosystem where tokenization, trading, and settlement can occur.

The potential flow is now end-to-end. SBI's institutional clients using B2C2 for liquidity and AsiaNext for derivatives could be funneled to Coinhako for execution and custody. This creates a seamless corridor: liquidity sourced via B2C2, traded on AsiaNext, and settled through Coinhako's custody and execution engine. The acquisition locks in a high-volume platform that can absorb this internal flow, turning SBI's fragmented assets into a unified, scalable institutional crypto business.