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SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao pushed back on a viral claim that the Japanese financial group holds $10 billion worth of XRP, arguing instead that SBI’s more significant exposure is its equity position in Ripple Labs—an asset he suggested the market may be underappreciating.
The exchange began after an X account described SBI as “a major partner of Ripple” and “holder of $10 billion in XRP,” linking the claim to SBI’s expanding presence in Asia, including its acquisition of Coinhako, a regulated crypto platform based in Singapore.
Kitao responded directly, disputing the framing and pointing to SBI’s ownership in Ripple rather than a headline XRP figure. In a Feb. 15 post, he wrote: “Not $10 bil. in XRP but around 9% of Ripple Lab. So our hidden asset could be much bigger.”
Kitao’s response shifted the discussion from a token inventory view to private-market ownership. He did not validate a specific XRP number, instead emphasizing that the value of SBI’s stake depends on Ripple’s overall valuation rather than the spot price of XRP.
In a separate post the same day, Kitao added that Ripple’s valuation should be considered in the context of its broader ecosystem. “When it comes to Ripple Lab’s total valuation which obviously include its ecosystem that Ripple has created, that would be enormous,” he wrote. “SBI owns more than 9 % of that much.”
A community member, “BankXRP,” amplified the implications by referencing reports that place Ripple’s valuation at “$50B+.” Under that framing, SBI’s roughly 9% stake would be “$4.5B+,” with “massive future upside as the CEO hints.”
While Kitao did not provide a dollar figure for SBI’s stake, the 9% figure offers a clear valuation yardstick. If SBI’s Ripple ownership were worth more than $10 billion, Ripple’s implied valuation would need to exceed roughly $111 billion, because $10 billion divided by 0.09 equals about $111.1 billion.
By comparison, at a $90 billion Ripple valuation, a 9% stake would be about $8.1 billion; at $50 billion, it would be about $4.5 billion. In other words, the threshold for “more than $10 billion” implies a triple-digit billions valuation for Ripple.
SBI’s roughly 9% position appears tied to a long-running strategic relationship rather than a single headline trade. SBI’s investor materials describe the Ripple relationship as having been “established” in September 2012, with SBI later investing in Ripple in March 2016 and deepening operational ties through the SBI Ripple Asia joint venture (SBI 60%, Ripple 40%) launched in May 2016.
SBI also participated as an investor in Ripple’s $200 million Series C financing announced in December 2019, a round that included SBI alongside other backers—one of the clearer public datapoints indicating continued equity exposure as Ripple raised capital.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.46.
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