Japanese financial services group SBI Holdings has bought 40% of Taiwanese cryptocurrency hardware wallet company CoolBitX, according to a press release published March 2.

In the latest venture in SBI’s increasing involvement with both the cryptocurrency and Blockchain industries, the finance giant made an undisclosed investment which transferred almost half of CoolBitX to its ownership.

CoolBitX currently manufacturers CoolWallet as its primary offering — a hardware wallet akin to a credit card which communicates to devices via Bluetooth.

SBI is currently spearheading a mass trial of Ripple’s technology in a separate major venture involving around 60 banks, the majority of which are based in Japan.

One participant in the trial, South Korea’s Woori Bank, has announced it intends to commercialize Ripple-based remittances by the end of this year.

The company meanwhile has delayed the launch of its own cryptocurrency exchange, it announced Feb. 27, citing the need to increase security.

That consideration will also form a focus for CoolBitX going forward, SBI noting its practices with others in its “virtual currency ecosystem.”

“...We have been looking for security sophistication by capturing advanced technologies of external companies in addition to thorough risk management within the company, making the protection of customer assets the top priority,” the press release states, continuing: