SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities plan a crypto investment trust for Japanese retail investors

Japan's largest online brokerage is about to make crypto investing feel as normal as buying a mutual fund. SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities are each growing in-house cryptocurrency investment trusts, according to Nikkei Asia, giving Japanese retail investors a way to gain exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum without touching their wallets.

The move is significant for a country that has long had one of crypto's most active retail markets but lacks the packaged investment products that have exploded in popularity in the US and Hong Kong.

What trusts actually do

Instead of signing up for a crypto exchange, securing private keys, and navigating the operational headaches of self-regulation, retail investors can buy into trust with an existing brokerage account. The trust is expected to track the prices of major digital assets, mainly Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Both SBI and Rakuten aren't exactly crypto newcomers. SBI Securities is part of the SBI Group, which operates the SBI VC business, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange in Japan. Rakuten Securities is placed under the Rakuten Group umbrella Rakuten Wallet is another regulated crypto trading platform. Therefore, both companies already have infrastructure and regulatory relations.

Why Japan, why now

Japan's Financial Services Agency has been steadily refining its crypto regulatory framework since 2019, creating more structured environments for digital asset businesses among major economies. The approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US earlier this year sent a clear signal that traditional finance has stopped treating crypto as a fringe curiosity. Hong Kong followed suit with its own Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals.

What does this mean for investors?

For Japanese retail investors, the millions of people who already have SBI or Rakuten brokerage accounts will soon be able to add Bitcoin or Ethereum exposure to their portfolios through their existing accounts. No new account signups, no learning curve around crypto exchanges, no worries about security breaches on unfamiliar platforms.

The danger, as always with trust and financial structures, is that investors are removed one layer from the underlying asset. They don't hold bitcoins directly. They hold units directly in a trust that holds Bitcoin, which introduces associated considerations and management fees that do not directly own the property.

See how Japan's FSA responds to the documents and what fees SBI and Rakuten structures attach to these products. In the US, the fee war between spot Bitcoin ETF issuers was the main factor behind the rapid reduction in costs and adoption.