Japanese electronics giant, Sony, plans to re-launch the crypto exchange, WhaleFin, which it bought from digital asset platform, Amber Group, in 2023. According to a press release, WhaleFin has been renamed to S.BLOX Co., which plans to collaborate with Sony Group’s other businesses to generate additional value for its crypto trading service. The revamp also includes a re-design of the user interface and a new mobile app that will be easier to use, the release said.

The S.BLOX cryptocurrency exchange has not yet made an official launch date public. As stated by BitKE in 2022, WhaleFin was a very ambitious global exchange that was a part of the Amber Group. It was said to support the company’s 24/7 trading desk, which catered to over a thousand institutional clients worldwide. WhaleFin provided desktop and mobile programmes to individual investors.

In 2022, WhaleFin made its debut in Japan with the acquisition of DeCurret, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, by Amber Group through its local subsidiary, Amber Japan. According to a Bloomberg story from last year [2023], the Hong Kong-based Amber Group intended to sell its Japan division because of the country’s stringent laws, which had also caused companies like Coinbase and Kraken to leave. The company’s goal was to prioritise institutional clients over retail ones.

Following WhaleFin’s acquisition by Sony’s wholly-owned subsidiary Quetta Web Co. in August 2023, which had been providing cryptocurrency trading services, the platform announced on July 1st, 2024 that it was rebranding to S.BLOX. Sony has been making concerted efforts to strengthen its position in Web3. A part of the corporation, Sony Network Communications, worked with a Japanese blockchain startup, Startale Labs, last year [2023] to create its own public blockchain network.

The venture capital division of Sony Group Corporation, Sony Innovation Fund: Africa, made a strategic investment in Carry1st, the top publisher of mobile games in Africa, in February 2024.

Additionally, the PlayStation manufacturer filed a patent application last year for a more adaptable use of NFTs as “super-fungible tokens,” or in-game assets.