Japanese Financial Giant SBI Holdings Forms Joint Venture for 24/7 Tokenized Stock Trading

SBI Holdings, one of Japan's largest financial conglomerates with over 11 trillion yen ($74 billion) in assets under management, has partnered with Singapore-based blockchain infrastructure firm Startale Group to develop a continuous trading platform for tokenized stocks and real-world assets, according to an announcement today.

The joint venture aims to capitalize on growing institutional adoption of tokenized financial products, following recent market entries by major platforms including Robinhood's tokenized stock launch and expanded offerings from cryptocurrency exchanges Kraken, Bybit, and Gemini. The companies are targeting what they project as an $18.9 trillion tokenized asset market opportunity by 2033.

Unlike traditional markets that remain closed approximately 70% of the time, the planned platform will enable continuous trading of tokenized versions of US and Japanese stocks with near-instant settlement capabilities. The system will also support fractional ownership, potentially making high-value equities accessible to smaller investors, the announcement said.

"The whole financial market is moving from an offchain environment to onchain," said Sota Watanabe, founder of Startale Group, in a statement. The executive positioned the venture as creating "entirely new financial primitives that merge the trust of traditional equities with the composability and accessibility of DeFi."

SBI Holdings chairman, president and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao described the initiative as addressing a "structural transformation" in global financial markets through real-world asset tokenization. He predicted the movement will lead to broader digitalization of capital markets infrastructure, including exchanges themselves.

The partnership combines SBI's extensive financial services ecosystem, which includes securities, banking, and insurance operations serving over 65 million customers worldwide, with Startale's blockchain development capabilities. Startale previously co-developed Sony's Layer-2 blockchain Soneium and created the Astar Network.

The companies have structured their collaboration around two specialized joint venture entities, with one focused on technology development and another handling business expansion strategies. They indicated milestone-based funding has been secured for development and market launch, though specific investment amounts and launch timelines were not disclosed.

Technical features of the planned platform include advanced account abstraction to simplify user experience, institutional-grade custody solutions, and real-time compliance monitoring for international regulations. The system aims to address limitations in existing tokenized stock platforms that operate during restricted hours or serve limited geographic markets.