Sony to Restart Japanese Crypto Exchange Whalefin Purchased From Amber Group in 2023

Sony is planning to restart the crypto exchange Whalefin, which it bought from crypto lender Amber Group last year.

The deal was reported earlier by Wu Blockchain, and the details were later revealed by the Block.

On Monday, Whalefin put out a notice that parent company Amber Japan was rebranding to S.BLOX. The notice added that the company was bought by Quetta Web, a unit of Sony, in August 2023. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Amber Japan, formerly known as DeCurret, was taken over by crypto finance firm Amber Group in 2022.

Sony plans to restart the crypto exchange soon with a new app, the firm said in a release on the PR Times.

While Sony has dabbled in Web 3 through investments and partnerships, the latest deal will mark the PlayStation maker’s proper foray into crypto. The company had teamed up with the Astar Network for a Web3 incubation program and filed a patent for transferring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) between different games and consoles.

Sony and Amber were not immediately available for comment.

Last year, Bloomberg reported that the Hong Kong-based Amber Group was planning to sell its Japan unit due to the strict regulations in the nation.

UPDATE (July 1, 2024, 07:20 UTC): Reworks headline and story with deal confirmation. Adds additional details of the acquisition.