Japan’s Financial Giant SBI Group to Shut Down Crypto Mining Operations in Russia

Japanese financial giant SBI Group announced that it will shut down its crypto mining operations in the entire country of Russia.

Since the outbreak of the big Russian-Ukrainian war on February 24 this year, the company has terminated its crypto mining operations in Russia’s Siberia region.

Chief Financial Officer Hideyuki Katsuchi announced plans to sell machinery and exit but did not reveal when the withdrawal from Siberia would be completed, according to Bloomberg.

The company said the suspension of mining in Siberia made the crypto-asset business report a pretax loss of 9.7 billion yen ($72 million) in the three months ended June 30, the first quarterly loss in a decade.

At the same time, according to the data of blockchain browser BTC.com, the mining hash rate of SBI Crypto also decreased by nearly 40%, from 5786.96 PH/S per second on February 25 to 3,563.75 PH/S on August 19, 2022.

 

The U.S. cryptocurrency mining company Compass Mining is looking for buyers for its equipment stranded in Russia to avoid sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The price tag on the pieces of mining equipment in the Russian region is pegged at $30 million.

In April 2022, the United States announced that it would add Russian cryptocurrency mining company Bitriver to its sanctions list. Due to geopolitical uncertainty, many miners have chosen to avoid doing business in Russia.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / /

SBI Group launches crypto-asset fund for Japanese investors

Tokyo’s biggest finserv firm, SBI Group, will now allow general Japanese investors to purchase cryptocurrencies via its newly launched ‘crypto asset fund’. The fund is composed of seven cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Chainlink (LINK) and Polkadot (DOT). 

The crypto-asset fund, to be traded and operated by the SBI Alternative Fund, was established on Dec. 02 with a dedicated capital of 5 million yen, worth approximately $45,000 at the time of writing. However, the company may choose to release the capital in smaller break-ups of 1 million yen each.

Source: SBI

According to the official statement, investors will be required to go through an application process that includes an anonymous partnership agreement with SBI Alternative Fund prior purchases. The company’s reasoning behind this move states:

“Since it is not suitable for all customers, it can only be purchased by customers who meet certain standards set by our company.”

In addition, the crypto investments made by such anonymous associations will be handled by SBI VC Trade, a sister firm dealing with cryptocurrency trading. SBI also highlighted that none of the seven cryptocurrencies in the crypto-asset fund will exceed 20% in ratio.

Assuring the longevity of the service, SBI has stated that the fund “cannot be canceled within one year,” between Feb. 1 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023. Investors will also be subject to unrealized capital gains taxes in addition to bearing other shared expenses including establishment and liquidation costs and audit expenses.

SBI has set an age limit between 20 to 70 for this fund and will enforce a three-month locking period for every purchase “aiming to reduce investment risk by diversifying time.” The company will also rebalance the investment ratio allocation once every month.

Related: SBI Holdings invests in Singaporean crypto exchange Coinhako

In addition to contributing to Japan’s crypto adoption, SBI continues to spread its reach in other jurisdictions. Most recently, the company invested in a Singaporean crypto exchange named Coinhako.

Coinhako received SBI’s funding soon after its received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). As Cointelegraph reported, the investment was made via the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity Fund, a fund jointly set up by SBI and Switzerland-based Sygnum Bank.

Coinhako plans to “expand our business to other countries in Southeast Asia” by using SBI’s fund infusion and its pre-existing international network.