bitbank has been around since 2014 and was among the first exchanges registered with Japan’s Financial Services Agency in September 2017. It never chased the one-tap, buy-button crowd. Instead it built a full yen order book for every coin it lists, which is still rare in Japan. Its app holds a 4.52 rating from about 57,000 reviews on the Japanese App Store, one of the highest among local exchanges.
It also has a new owner. On 1 October 2026 bitbank became a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings, the financial group that already runs SBI VC Trade. This review explains what bitbank costs in practice, using its official fee page and deposit guide, how sign-up works for foreign residents, and what the SBI deal does and doesn’t change.
bitbank at a glance
- Company
- bitbank, Inc. (founded May 2014; wholly owned by SBI Holdings since 1 Oct 2026)
- Licence
- Crypto-asset exchange service provider, Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00004 (registered 29 Sep 2017)
- Head office
- Yaesu Central Tower 10F, Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, 2-2-1 Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
- Coins
- 44, every one tradable against yen on the order book
- Ways to trade
- Order book, dealer desk, margin up to 2x (BTC, XRP, ETH, DOGE, SOL)
- Order-book fees
- BTC/JPY: 0.00% maker / 0.10% taker. Other pairs: −0.02% maker / 0.12% taker
- Dealer desk
- Spread applies; not published
- Minimum order
- 0.0001 of a coin on the order book
- Yen deposits
- Bank transfer only, to GMO Aozora Net Bank or Docomo SMTB Net Bank; instant with your deposit number; you pay the transfer fee
- Yen withdrawals
- ¥550 under ¥30,000, ¥770 above; instant, 24/7
- BTC withdrawal
- 0.0006 BTC
- Extras
- ETH staking, crypto lending (0.1–5.0% a year), recurring buys, EPOS crypto credit card
- App rating
- 4.52 on the Japanese App Store (about 57,000 ratings)
What works
- All 44 coins trade on a yen order book, not just BTC and ETH
- Makers receive 0.02% on every pair except BTC/JPY
- BTC/JPY is 0% for makers and 0.10% for takers
- Order minimum of 0.0001 of a coin lets you use the order book with small amounts
- Instant yen deposits with a deposit number; instant withdrawals around the clock
- Residence card accepted for the smartphone ID check
Watch out for
- Yen deposits by bank transfer only: no konbini, Pay-easy or card
- You pay your own bank’s transfer fee on every deposit
- Yen withdrawals cost ¥550–¥770
- Bitcoin withdrawals cost 0.0006 BTC, one of the higher fees among major exchanges
- Dealer-desk spread is not published
- No NFT marketplace or token sales (IEOs)
Opening an account as a foreign resident
If you live in Japan, you can open a personal account. bitbank’s identity-verification page says foreign nationals can use their residence card (zairyu card) for its smartphone check, called サクッと本人確認 (“quick ID check”), which reads the card’s IC chip. bitbank says approval can take as little as one minute this way. If your phone can’t read the chip, or you use a different document, you fall back to a slower verification by post.
What you can’t do is open a personal account from abroad. bitbank’s English page is aimed at companies registered outside Japan and says plainly that personal accounts for non-residents are not accepted. That page promises English- and Chinese-speaking account managers for corporate clients; for individuals, the site footer has an English/Japanese switch and the iOS app lists English as a language, but we couldn’t confirm how much of the personal sign-up and support is in English. Expect some Japanese.
The usual Japan rules apply on top. Deposits must come from a bank account in your own name, and the name your bank transmits (normally in katakana) needs to match your bitbank registration. You will also be asked to declare your tax residenceA self-certification of the countries where you are tax-resident, plus any foreign tax ID. Required for new accounts at Japanese exchanges since January 2026 under the OECD’s CARF rules. and any foreign taxpayer number. Our guide to crypto for foreigners in Japan covers visa types, My Number and the rest of the paperwork.
bitbank fees, and how makers get paid
Everything at bitbank revolves around the order bookOrder book (取引所 / 板, ita): a list of buy and sell orders from users. You trade with other customers at prices you choose, rather than buying from the exchange.. When you place a limit order that sits on the book and waits, you are a makerA trader whose limit order waits on the order book until someone trades against it. Makers add liquidity, so exchanges often charge them less or pay them.. When your order matches an existing one straight away, you are a takerA trader whose order fills immediately against an order already on the book. Market orders are always taker orders.. Makers pay less; on most pairs at bitbank they are paid.
| Item | Fee | On ¥100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| BTC/JPY trade | 0.00% maker / 0.10% taker | ¥0 / ¥100 |
| Every other pair | −0.02% maker / 0.12% taker | You receive ¥20 / you pay ¥120 |
| Dealer desk | No fee | Spread applies (not published) |
| Yen deposit | Free on bitbank’s side | Your bank’s transfer fee applies |
| Yen withdrawal | ¥550 / ¥770 | Under / over ¥30,000 |
| Bitcoin withdrawal | 0.0006 BTC | About ¥7,200 if 1 BTC = ¥12 million |
A ¥100,000 XRP round trip
Buy ¥100,000 of XRP with a market order and you pay the 0.12% taker fee, or ¥120. Sell it with a limit order that waits on the book and you receive the 0.02% maker rebate, or ¥20. Net trading cost: ¥100. If both sides fill as maker orders, you come out ¥40 ahead on fees.
Add the ¥770 withdrawal and whatever your bank charges to send the deposit, and the full trip is around ¥870, just under 1%, if your bank transfers are free. Buy and sell the same XRP on a dealer desk with even a 1% spread each way and you would lose about ¥2,000 before deposits and withdrawals. The gap widens every time you trade.
How to make sure you’re the maker
When buying, set your limit price a little below the lowest sell order; when selling, a little above the highest buy order. Your order then joins the book instead of filling instantly. It may take a while to fill, so use maker orders when you’re not in a hurry.
The 0.0001 minimum matters too. On Bitcoin that is about ¥1,200 at ¥12 million per coin, a tenth of bitFlyer’s 0.001 BTC order-book minimum, so you can use the order book from your very first purchase. To see bitbank next to every other exchange, use the fee comparison calculator.
Deposits and withdrawals
There is exactly one way to put yen in: a bank transfer to bitbank’s account at GMO Aozora Net Bank or Docomo SMTB Net Bank (formerly SBI Sumishin Net Bank). Your account page shows a 9-digit deposit number; put it in front of your name in the transfer and the money lands instantly. Forget the number and the deposit can be delayed.
bitbank charges nothing to receive the money, but you pay your bank’s transfer fee. Same-bank transfers and net banks with a few free transfers a month bring that to zero, so it is worth checking what your bank offers. If you were hoping to pay cash at a convenience store or use a card, bitbank is the wrong exchange; see ways to pay for crypto in Japan for the options elsewhere.
Yen withdrawals are instant around the clock and cost ¥550 below ¥30,000 or ¥770 above. Crypto withdrawals are pricier: 0.0006 BTC for Bitcoin, so batch them. Japan’s Travel RuleRules that make exchanges pass sender and recipient details with crypto transfers. In force in Japan since June 2023. means you’ll be asked who owns the receiving wallet. For the full sell-and-withdraw process, read how to cash out crypto to yen.
Coins and extras
All 44 coins trade against yen on the order book, from BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and DOGE to smaller gaming and Web3 tokens. That matters in Japan more than elsewhere: XRP made up 13.4% of all domestic spot volume in August 2026, according to industry body JVCEA, far above its global share. If you trade coins like that often, an order book saves real money. The list does change; on 9 October 2026 bitbank announced it would stop handling Enjin Coin (ENJ).
For yield, bitbank offers ETH stakingEarning rewards for helping run a proof-of-stake blockchain. The exchange stakes your coins and passes on part of the reward., keeping 30% of the reward, and a lending programme paying 0.1–5.0% a year. Recurring buys can be set for dealer-desk coins on a daily, monthly or custom schedule; we couldn’t confirm the minimum. Margin trading tops out at 2x, Japan’s legal limit for individuals, on five coins.
Since April 2026 there is also the EPOS CRYPTO Card for bitbank, a Visa card from Marui’s EPOS with no annual fee, which pays 0.5% back in BTC, ETH or ASTR and lets you settle the monthly bill with Bitcoin from your bitbank account. Card issuers run their own screening, so eligibility is a separate question; our crypto cards guide compares it with the other options. bitbank has no NFT marketplace and no token sales.
Safety, and what SBI ownership changes
bitbank says it keeps customer assets offline in cold walletsWallets whose private keys are kept on devices that never connect to the internet, which sharply cuts the risk of remote theft. and protects them with multisig, so that moving funds requires more than one key, guarding against both hackers and insiders. It asks every new user to switch on two-factor authentication right after registering. Still, no exchange can rule out a hack: DMM Bitcoin lost about ¥48.2 billion in 2024.
The bigger story is ownership. SBI Holdings announced in June 2026 that it would buy all of bitbank, and the deal closed on 1 October 2026, when bitbank bought back its own shares from MIXI and Ceres. Reported deal value: about ¥46.7 billion. SBI already runs SBI VC Trade, which took over DMM Bitcoin’s customers in March 2025 and absorbed BITPOINT in April 2026. Together with bitbank, SBI’s exchanges held about 2.92 million accounts and about ¥1.1 trillion in customer assets at the end of April 2026.
- May 2014bitbank founded
- 29 Sep 2017FSA registration as exchange No. 00004
- 27 Apr 2026EPOS CRYPTO Card launches with BTC bill payment
- 25 Jun 2026SBI announces the takeover
- 1 Oct 2026bitbank becomes a wholly owned SBI subsidiary
- NextAny service changes will be announced by bitbank
So what changes for you? For now, nothing that has been announced. SBI’s completion notice covers the share transfer only; the company name, FSA registration, app and fees are the same. With BITPOINT, SBI folded the brand into SBI VC Trade in stages after the merger, so a future reshuffle can’t be ruled out. Keep your email and address up to date so you don’t miss a deadline if one comes. For the wider shake-up among Japanese exchanges, see our reviews hub, and for the rules behind it all, Is crypto legal in Japan?
Sign-up checklist
- Email address and Japanese mobile number
- IC-chip ID: residence card, My Number card or driving licence
- A phone that can read the IC chip (otherwise expect postal verification)
- A Japanese bank account in your own name for deposits and withdrawals
- An authenticator app for two-factor login
- Your foreign tax ID, if you have one, for the tax-residence declaration
Once approved, send a transfer with your deposit number and place a limit order on the order book. Our step-by-step guide to buying Bitcoin in Japan explains limit and market orders, and the Japan crypto tax guide explains what you owe when you sell.
Exchanges to pair with bitbank
bitbank’s weak points are funding (bank transfer only) and the cost of moving money and coins out. Many residents keep bitbank for order-book trading and a second account for cheap transfers:
For free transfers
SBI VC Trade charges nothing for yen withdrawals or crypto transfers, and is in the same group as bitbank.
GMO Coin offers free instant deposits from Japan Post Bank and PayPay Bank, and free withdrawals from ¥10,000.
For the widest choice
Binance Japan lists 66 coins, the most in Japan, and takes PayPay Money, but its order-book fee is 0.10%.
Coincheck charges 0% on BTC and ETH order-book trades.
Every licensed operator is on our list of FSA-registered exchanges.
bitbank FAQ
Is bitbank good for foreigners living in Japan?
It works well if you are comfortable with bank transfers and limit orders. bitbank’s identity-verification page says foreign nationals can use a residence card for its smartphone check, and the app lists English as a language. Personal accounts are only for Japan residents; non-residents can’t sign up as individuals.
What are bitbank’s trading fees?
BTC/JPY costs 0.00% as a maker and 0.10% as a taker. Every other pair costs −0.02% as a maker, meaning you receive 0.02%, and 0.12% as a taker. The dealer desk charges no fee but has an unpublished spread.
How do I deposit yen into bitbank?
Only by bank transfer to bitbank’s accounts at GMO Aozora Net Bank or Docomo SMTB Net Bank. Put your 9-digit deposit number in front of your name and the money arrives instantly. bitbank charges nothing, but you pay your bank’s transfer fee. There is no convenience-store, Pay-easy or card option.
Who owns bitbank now?
SBI Holdings. The deal closed on 1 October 2026, making bitbank a wholly owned subsidiary. The company name, FSA registration and app are unchanged, and the official announcement we reviewed did not mention changes to accounts or fees.
What is the minimum order on bitbank?
The order book accepts 0.0001 of any coin. For Bitcoin that is about ¥1,200 if one BTC trades at ¥12 million, and for low-priced coins such as XRP it can be a few hundred yen.
Does bitbank offer staking?
Yes, for Ether. bitbank keeps 30% of the staking reward and passes on the rest. It also runs a lending programme that pays 0.1–5.0% a year on coins you lend it. Both kinds of reward are taxable income in Japan when received.
Sources
Keep reading
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