Source: Ripple

Adding to the momentum behind XRP’s growing global liquidity, SBI Holdings announced that its newly released digital asset exchange — SBI Virtual Currencies — will use XRP as the only digital asset supported at launch.

SBI Holdings is the leading financial service company in Japan. Their subsidiary, SBI Securities, is Japan’s largest online securities company with more than 4 million brokerage accounts. SBI Virtual Currencies launched in beta on January 30. The exchange is designed to provide a respected and reliable exchange for both its institutional customers and individual digital asset buyers in Japan.



XRP’s strong institutional use case and scalability (1,500 transactions per second) coupled with the growing demand for XRP in Japan, made the digital asset a natural fit for the launch.



In a post last August, SBI Holdings CEO and Executive Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao, told Ripple Insights why SBI Holdings believes so strongly in XRP.



“Not only does it have a clear use case, XRP is faster, cheaper and more scalable than any other digital asset,” Mr. Kitao said. “I strongly believe it will become the global standard in digital currencies.”



SBI Virtual Currencies looks to join xRapid ecosystem



SBI Virtual Currencies (SBI VC) is looking to join the xRapid ecosystem — Ripple’s enterprise-grade solution — to help institutions source liquidity for cross-border payments between Japan and the rest of the world. Ripple will eventually integrate SBI VC’s APIs so that xRapid users — payment providers and banks who are transferring money into and out of Japan — can convert XRP to JPY and JPY to XRP instantly through SBI VC.



The high cost of liquidity inherent to cross-border payments is significantly decreased with xRapid, providing payment providers and banks with an efficient, scalable, and low-cost liquidity option — all while improving their customers’ experience.



Ripple’s senior vice president of business development, Patrick Griffin, believes that the partnership with SBI VC is another step toward reaching the company’s mission of establishing an Internet of Value, where money can move as freely as information.



“Today’s decision to make XRP the primary digital asset of SBI Virtual Currencies shows the utility, efficiency, and scalability respected financial institutions around the world see in XRP. This is a critical step forward in our mission to build XRP liquidity and build an Internet of Value,” said Griffin.