Headline: Ripple-linked SBI’s crypto arm wins mandate to manage WIZE’s Solana treasury
SBI VC Trade, the crypto unit of SBI Holdings — a firm long tied to Ripple through investments and partnerships — has been tapped to run the Solana (SOL) treasury for Tokyo-listed media company WIZE. The move deepens SBI’s footprint in Solana’s institutional ecosystem and underscores growing corporate adoption of crypto on company balance sheets.
What’s happening
- Under the agreement, SBI VC Trade will handle trading, custody, storage and overall management of the SOL assets held in WIZE’s corporate treasury. Transactions and custody will be executed through SBI’s institutional platform, SBIVC for Prime.
- WIZE launched its Solana Treasury Business in 2025 and says SOL is now a core part of its balance-sheet strategy, with digital assets expected to complement its social entertainment and media operations.
- WIZE selected SBI VC Trade after evaluating multiple providers, citing regulatory compliance, operational security, and institutional support capabilities as decisive factors.
Why it matters
- The mandate gives SBI VC Trade another sizeable institutional client and positions the firm as a go-to provider for custody, trading and treasury services for Japanese corporates seeking regulated crypto exposure.
- For WIZE, outsourcing operations to a regulated, Japan-registered provider reduces operational risk and helps scale a SOL-based treasury strategy within the country’s regulatory framework.
- The deal is another signal that asset managers, corporates and financial institutions are increasingly structuring Solana exposure via formal, regulated channels rather than informal holdings.
Market context
- Institutional interest in Solana has shown other signs of momentum: Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley recently resubmitted an application for a spot Solana ETF (ticker: MSOL) that would hold SOL directly and stake part of the holdings to generate yield, pending SEC approval for listing on NYSE Arca.
- Separately, SBI Holdings continues to diversify beyond crypto: the group recently partnered with AI company Anthropic to integrate Claude AI technologies into its operations, following Anthropic’s confidential IPO filing earlier this year.
Bottom line
The SBI–WIZE deal highlights demand for regulated custody and treasury services as corporates integrate crypto into strategic treasuries. It also reinforces Solana’s rising institutional profile at a time when investment products and corporate treasury strategies are increasingly centering on major smart-contract platforms.
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