Thanks to SBI Holding, Japan is and will continue to be one of the most important countries for Ripple and XRP. Despite the recent report that XRP has significantly lost its popularity among Japanese investors compared to Bitcoin, SBI Holding continues to push for the adaptation of Ripple and XRP. The Tokyo-based group of financial services companies is undoubtedly one of Ripple's most important partners.
The association's driving force is undoubtedly Yoshitaka Kitao, who is both CEO of SBI Holding and a member of Ripple's board of directors. The last announcement probably dates back to it, as did the launch of MoneyTap. According to a presentation released yesterday, SBI plans to establish the first cryptocurrency fund in Japan, which will consist of 50% XRP, 30% Bitcoin, and 20% Ethereum.
The distribution clearly shows that SBI Holding and Kitao continue to bet on XRP and even its value increase, despite disappointing price performance in the past two years. As can be seen in the presentation, the fund is possible thanks to a partnership with an institution that is currently anonymous. What is certain, however, is that the cryptocurrency fund will launch this summer, when the funds are raised.
According to the presentation, the fund "will provide individual investors with a cryptocurrency fund that will incorporate the resources of the OSE Group." Furthermore, OSE states that "cryptocurrencies, which have a low correlation with traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, etc., increase the effectiveness of diversification."
Scotiabank Inverlat will use its subsidiaries for the custody and administration of the fund. SBI VC Trade will take custody of XRP, BTC and ETH. SBI Alternative Investments Co Ltd will establish and manage the cryptocurrency fund.
Also noteworthy is that the cryptocurrency fund's portfolio, comprised of 50% XRP, 30% Bitcoin, and 20% Ethereum, has been divided on the recommendation of Morningstar, Inc, a global financial services company based in Chicago
Scotiabank Inverlat and Ripple further deepen their relationship
The announced cryptocurrency fund is apparently further proof of SBI Holding's confidence in Ripple and its technologies. Scotiabank Inverlat was one of Ripple's first and largest investors. Both companies founded the SBI Ripple Asia joint venture as early as 2016 and launched the MoneyTap App in 2018, which will gradually roll out to the Japanese bank consortium, which consists of 61 banks that cover more than 80% of all bank assets in Japan.
Just last week, SBI Ripple Asia announced that the testing phase of the XRP On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) -based solution will soon be over and that ODL will be widely implemented in the bank consortium. Currently, the consortium banks are using RippleNet to process the transactions, however, all of the SBI Remit and SBI Ripple Asia partner banks are planning to migrate to ODL this year.
