SBI Crypto, the crypto-focused arm of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, will permanently close its Bitcoin mining pool on July 31, 2026, ending a more than five-year operation. The pool will stop accepting new mining shares at 22:00 UTC on July 30, and the company has asked miners to continue routing their hashrate until the cutoff to ensure accurate final payouts. The closure removes a recognizable Japanese corporate player from the global Bitcoin mining landscape, though SBI Crypto ranked as a mid-tier pool with about 21.46 exahashes per second (EH/s) and 2.24% of total network share, placing it 12th worldwide according to SimpleMining data. By comparison, Foundry USA led with around 24.49% and AntPool held 19.05%.
Miners currently connected to the SBI pool are being directed toward alternative operators such as Braiins, Luxor, and NeoPool. Braiins and Luxor each control roughly 2%–3% of global hashrate, while NeoPool is not among the top-ranked pools. SBI indicated that some of these operators may offer preferential terms for migrating clients, easing the transition.
The shutdown comes as SBI Holdings reorients its crypto strategy away from raw mining infrastructure. The parent company recently agreed to acquire full control of crypto exchange Bitbank in a ¥46.7 billion deal (approximately $289 million), aiming to create Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. It has also deepened stablecoin involvement by backing JPYSC, a Japanese yen stablecoin tied to trust bank infrastructure, and supporting Ripple’s RLUSD rollout in Japan. The pool closure is therefore less an exit from crypto than a deliberate pivot toward exchange control and stablecoin rails.
SBI’s mining pool launched in March 2021 amid fierce competition from operators like F2Pool, Poolin, and Binance Pool. Over time, it adjusted its offerings—temporarily suspending merged mining support for Litecoin and Dogecoin, which had been introduced in July 2023. No public reason was given for the shutdown.
