Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings reportedly plans to use the digital asset XRP to power global payments.
In a new speech at the FIN/SUM 2019 conference in Tokyo – translated by independent Ripple and XRP researcher Crypto Eri – SBI CEO and Ripple board member Yoshitaka Kitao says the company “will use the virtual currency XRP for remittance.”
Kitao also says the company’s mobile money transfer app MoneyTap, which is fully licensed by Japanese regulators, will utilize XRP.
“He is saying, as a first-tier public company on Tokyo exchange (blue chip) XRP will be utilized in MoneyTap. Not all the banks in the consortium are strong in cross-border remittances but also, he announced Ripple will become a shareholder in MoneyTap.”
SBI is working to roll out MoneyTap to a banking consortium that’s led by SBI Ripple Asia comprised of 61 banks covering more than 80% of all banking assets in Japan.
Mr. Kitao Finsum yesterday "We will use the virtual currency XRP for remittance" & “We are focusing on making Moneytap into the Group's flagship product. We are going to have various relationships with Ripple in the US, and this alliance is very significant.” More in coming video
— CryptoEri (@sentosumosaba) September 5, 2019
SBI Holdings is one of the biggest banks involved in cryptocurrency. The company recently launched crypto trading on its bank-owned crypto exchange, called VCTRADE.
SBI, a longtime Ripple partner, invested in the San Francisco startup back in 2016.
