Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, said: clarified Japanese financial giants don’t own $10 billion $XRP token. Still, the company owns a huge stake in Ripple Labs itself.
Stocks, not tokens
The discussion started when user @strivex_ praised SBI’s recent expansion into Singapore, saying: “SBI is a major partner of Ripple and has $10 billion in assets in #$XRPwe are increasing our presence in Asia…” Kitao quoted the post and directly corrected the financials.
Holds $10 billion $XRP SBI will be directly exposed to daily fluctuations in token prices. Rather, holding 9% of Ripple Labs means that SBI owns a significant portion of the shares of a privately held company.
“Hidden assets”?
In a follow-up tweet, Kitao explained why he believes the stock is a “hidden asset” that is not fully reflected in SBI’s current book value.
“The total valuation of Ripple Labs, which obviously includes the ecosystem that Ripple has created, is going to be huge. SBI owns over 9% of it.”
Recent private market reports and analysis estimate Ripple Labs’ valuation at more than $50 billion.
If Ripple is worth $50 billion, then SBI’s 9% stake is currently worth about $4.5 billion on paper.
That said, Kitao seems to believe that the Ripple ecosystem commands a much higher premium than current private metrics indicate.
SBI Holdings has been Ripple’s strongest ally since 2016. This partnership is deeply embedded in both companies’ businesses.
Acquisition of Coinhako
On Friday, SBI announced that it will acquire a majority stake in Coinhako, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore. Coinhako has obtained a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
SBI is effectively building a digital asset “corridor” connecting Japan and Southeast Asia.
