# Ryo Kato

> Ryo Kato is the CEO of HashHub Inc., a blockchain research firm under SBI Holdings. He also holds director positions at SBI Digital Hub, DeFimans, and CoinPost, with a legal background from Keio and Northwestern.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/ryo-kato
- Categories: People in crypto
- Tags: Advisor, Developer, Founder, Influencer, Speaker
- Created: 2026-08-20T17:15:59.184Z
- Last updated: 2026-08-20T17:18:38.876Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

---

**Ryo Kato** is a Japanese crypto and Web3 executive, currently serving as Representative Director and CEO of HashHub Inc., a blockchain research and consulting company and subsidiary of SBI Holdings. He holds concurrent director roles at [SBI Digital Hub](https://iq.wiki/wiki/sbi-digital-hub), DeFimans, and [CoinPost](https://iq.wiki/wiki/coinpost). [\[1\]](#cite-1)​[\[2\]](#cite-2)​

​

## Education

Kato graduated from the Faculty of Law at Keio University and later obtained an LL.M. from Northwestern University. [\[1\]](#cite-1)​[\[3\]](#cite-3)​

## Career

Kato began his career in Nomura Holdings' legal department before moving to Nomura Securities' corporate information department. [\[1\]](#cite-1)​

He later joined [SBI Holdings](https://iq.wiki/wiki/sbi-holdings), serving in the President's Office, Expo Promotion Office. He went on to become Deputy General Manager of SBI Securities' Strategic Business Promotion Department, where he executed numerous mergers and acquisitions in the Web3 and crypto asset space. [\[1\]](#cite-1)​[\[3\]](#cite-3)​

## HashHub

Kato is Representative Director and CEO of HashHub Inc., a blockchain company founded in 2018 and a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings. HashHub states its purpose as "bringing the benefits of public blockchain to more people," offering crypto asset and Web3 research services, consulting, and product development. [\[3\]](#cite-3)​

HashHub's research offerings, HashHub Business and HashHub Research, were introduced as part of a rebrand of the company's earlier d10n Lab research community, launched as a Research-as-a-Service model — HashHub Business serving corporate clients and HashHub Research serving individuals. The company has stated it delivers approximately 300 reports per year. [\[4\]](#cite-4) HashHub Research's reports have been cited and excerpted by CoinDesk Japan. [\[5\]](#cite-5)​

## Other Director Roles

Kato is a Director of SBI Digital Hub. [\[1\]](#cite-1)​[\[2\]](#cite-2)​

He is also a Director of DeFimans, a Web3 consulting firm. DeFimans was acquired by SBI Digital Hub, with the stated intent of combining SBI Digital Hub's customer base, HashHub's research capabilities, and DeFimans' industry network and consulting execution to deliver services across the SBI Group's Web3-related businesses. [\[6\]](#cite-6)​

Kato is a Director of CoinPost, described in multiple independent sources as Japan's largest crypto asset and Web3 media outlet. His directorship there followed SBI Holdings' completion of a majority stake acquisition of CoinPost, reported around October 1, 2025. [\[7\]](#cite-7)​

Kato has separately described himself, in his own public profile, as serving as Secretary-General of a digital economy federation organization (referred to in Japanese as "デジ経連"); the full English name of this organization was not independently confirmed and this role is presented here as self-described. [\[1\]](#cite-1)​

## Public Presence and Speaking

Kato spoke at TEAMZ SUMMIT 2026. [\[3\]](#cite-3) He also appeared on a panel at XRP Tokyo 2026, alongside speakers including a16z Crypto's SungMo Park and SBI Ripple Asia's Takuya Sugiyama. [\[8\]](#cite-8) He is also listed as a speaker at the CoinDesk-hosted Consensus Hong Kong conference. [\[2\]](#cite-2)​