Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, answered "Yes" to a direct question about his continued trust in XRP, responding to an X user who expressed frustration about recent weeks for token holders.
The X user stated that XRP holders felt Ripple had left them behind. Kitao's response in English was notably concise, contrasting with his typical posts in Japanese or reposts of other accounts.
SBI's Long-Standing Partnership with Ripple
SBI Holdings and Ripple have maintained a partnership since 2016, when SBI joined Ripple's Series B funding round and established SBI Ripple Asia as a joint venture. SBI holds approximately 60% of the venture, with Ripple owning the remaining 40%.
That same year, SBI Ripple Asia organized a consortium of Japanese banks to test Ripple's payment technology, which later expanded to include more than 60 banks. In 2018, SBI launched MoneyTap, an interbank application, and its crypto exchange SBI VC Trade began trading XRP. Kitao joined Ripple's board of directors in 2019.
Ongoing Business Developments
SBI has distributed XRP to shareholders as bonuses since 2020 and operates SBI Remit, a payment service using XRP for remittances across major corridors including Japan-Philippines transfers via on-demand liquidity.
In February 2026, Kitao clarified SBI's holdings, stating the company owns approximately 9% of Ripple Labs rather than the rumored $10 billion in XRP tokens. He characterized the combined valuation of Ripple Labs and its ecosystem as "enormous."
In August 2025, SBI VC Trade and Ripple agreed to introduce the RLUSD stablecoin to Japan. The following month, SBI invested $200 million in Evernorth, a company that holds XRP in its treasury. SBI VC Trade now operates with more than two million accounts.
During SBI's November 2, 2026 quarterly briefing, Kitao noted that Bitcoin investors primarily hold the asset, while XRP's value depends on its use in payments and business ecosystems.
