[Coin Report] Ripple Strengthens on SBI’s Large-Scale Investment… Accelerates International Remittance Business

XRP has been on an upward curve since the new year, surging 20%. According to CoinMarketCap at 10:58 am on the 3rd, the XRP price is trading at $2.42, up about 20% from the end of last year. XRP had risen to $2.7 after the US presidential election in November last year, but has been fluctuating around the $2 level since December.

The recent sharp rise in XRP prices is interpreted as the influence of investment by the Japanese SBI Group. According to foreign media on the 2nd, the leading Japanese financial group SBI has recently expanded its investment in Ripple Labs, the issuer of XRP. SBI currently owns an 8% stake in Ripple Labs. The total investment in Ripple is known to be around 1.4 trillion yen (about 13.506 trillion won). SBI has been a long-term investor in Ripple and has maintained a cooperative relationship for several years. In 2016, it established a joint venture, SBI Ripple Asia, with Ripple to expand the Ripple-based international remittance business in the Asian region, including Japan.

As expectations have risen that the legal dispute between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple will be resolved with the election of former President Donald Trump, international remittance cooperation is also accelerating. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is known to have visited Japan in the second half of last year and met with key political figures, including the Japanese Digital Minister. This is interpreted as a move to expand the adoption of the Ripple-based remittance solution 'MoneyTap' developed jointly by Ripple and SBI at Japanese financial institutions. Yoshitaka Kitao, chairman of SBI Holdings, said, "This year, 61 banks, or 80% of Japanese banks, will integrate the Ripple solution into their systems."

Attention is also focused on the possibility of Ripple launching a yen-pegged stablecoin. Ripple launched the dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD based on Ripple last month, entering the stablecoin market. In an interview with Bloomberg prior to the launch of RLUSD, Garlinghouse CEO said, "Demand for a yen-pegged stablecoin is expected to be high, and its launch is just a matter of time." He also mentioned that "Japan has clearer regulations on stablecoins and cryptocurrencies compared to other countries," hinting at the possibility of launching a yen-pegged stablecoin.

As expectations for Ripple's business expansion are rising, investor interest in XRP is also high. At Upbit, the largest domestic exchange where 10% of the total XRP trading volume is taking place, the 24-hour trading volume of XRP exceeded 1 trillion won on the 3rd. This accounts for about 25% of Upbit's total trading volume, three times the trading volume of BTC during the same period. The XRP trading volume at Bithumb also increased to 380 billion won, three times the size of BTC.

Reporter Kim Jeong-woo

woo@decenter.kr