German stock exchange owner Boerse Stuttgart Group and Japanese financial giant SBI Group are teaming up on a joint initiative to expand their digital assets businesses internationally.

The two firms said in a press release Friday they will establish a partnership in Europe and Asia, including Japan, with the ultimate aim of developing "a truly global end-to-end ecosystem for digital assets, utilizing blockchain technology."

To cement the deal, SBI Holdings is to take a stake in the stock exchange's regulated digital assets trading platform, Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange. It also aired a plan to invest in Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures – another subsidiary that invests in innovative financial startups. The two subsidiaries carry out business related to digital assets in Germany and across Europe, according to the announcement.

“Asia and Europe are the fastest-growing markets for digital assets at the moment," said Alexander Höptner, chairman of Boerse Stuttgart's management board. "Besides the exchange of knowledge and technology, possible fields of collaboration include the cross issuance and listing of digital assets, trading and brokerage as well as the creation of the first global custody bridge.”

For its part, SBI has been working in the digital assets space since 2016, having launched initiatives such as a a payments app in collaboration with blockchain payments firm Ripple and a Japan-registered crypto trading platform called VC Trade. It has other subsidiaries in the space, too, including mining venture SBI Crypto, SBI Crypto Investment and SBI Mining Chip, which produces mining hardware.

Through the new partnership, "The SBI Group, including its crypto-asset trading platform and other related business operating companies, will fully make use of the collaboration with Boerse Stuttgart Group, to well-establish the actual demands of the digital asset throughout the world," said Yoshitaka Kitao, president and representative director of SBI Holdings.