SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial conglomerates, is launching its first blockchain-based bond aimed at individual investors, a 10 billion yen (~$64.5 million) issue that combines traditional fixed income features with blockchain settlement and crypto fringe benefits.
Called SBI START Bonds, the securities are fully managed onchain using the “ibet for Fin” platform of BOOSTRY, a specialized corporate blockchain platform for issuing security tokens.
These three-year bonds offer an indicative annual interest rate of 1.85% to 2.45%, payable semi-annually.
XRP Rewards
The investors in these bonds can also receive rewards in XRP tokens, according to SBI.
Resident retail investors and companies who purchase more than 100,000 yen (about $650) worth and have an account with SBI VC Trade are eligible to receive rewards in XRP in “an amount equal to their subscription amount.”
These bonuses, which the product page lists as 200 yen in XRP per 100,000 yen invested, to be distributed upon issuance and again on each interest payment date until 2029.
The bonds are expected to begin secondary trading on March 25 via Osaka Digital Exchange’s “START” proprietary trading system.
Notably, SBI Holdings formed a partnership with Ripple back in 2016 and has been a supporter of XRP ever since. A subsidiary of the company has even distributed XRP directly to shareholders and supported XRP-powered money transfers between Japan and the Philippines.
The company owns about 9% of Ripple Labs, according to its chairman and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao.
Kitao launched SBI Holdings in 1999 as a SoftBank subsidiary (which was later spun off into an independent company in 2006) and has since seen it grow into a financial giant generating over $8 billion in annual revenue. It first started dealing with blockchain technology through its partnership with Ripple, which led to the creation of SBI Ripple Asia.
The company has since adopted stablecoins. It has partnered with Circle to launch USDC in Japan and signed a memorandum of understanding with Ripple to distribute its RLUSD stablecoin.
