SBI Holdings has announced its first on-chain bond aimed at retail investors, with a total issuance size of 10 billion yen, or about $64.5 million. The product, called SBI START Bond, combines the fixed-income structure of a traditional bond with blockchain-based management and XRP incentives.
Bond to run on BOOSTRY’s ibet for Fin platform
The bond will be managed on-chain through ibet for Fin, an enterprise blockchain platform operated by BOOSTRY and focused on security token issuance. SBI said the bond will carry a 3-year term, with a projected annual interest rate of 1.85% to 2.45%. Interest will be paid once every six months.
The XRP component is central to the offering. According to SBI, retail investors and corporate entities with Japanese residency status can qualify for the reward if they subscribe with at least 100,000 yen and hold an account at the group’s crypto exchange, SBI VC Trade. XRP rewards will be distributed based on the amount subscribed.
XRP payout tied to subscription amount
The product page states that for every 100,000 yen invested, subscribers will receive XRP worth 200 yen. One round of rewards will be distributed on the bond’s issuance date, and additional payouts will continue on each interest payment date through 2029.
SBI plans to list the bond on March 25 this year on the START trading system operated by the Osaka Digital Exchange, allowing investors to trade it in the secondary market.
Long-standing ties with Ripple
SBI’s relationship with Ripple dates back to 2016, when the two sides formed a strategic partnership. Since then, SBI has remained one of the financial groups most closely linked to the XRP ecosystem. Its subsidiaries have previously distributed XRP to shareholders, and the group has also supported XRP-based remittance use cases between Japan and the Philippines.
Yoshitaka Kitao, chairman and president of SBI Holdings, has said the group owns about 9% of Ripple Labs. The two companies also established SBI Ripple Asia as a joint venture. SBI has expanded beyond XRP as well: it has worked with Circle to bring USDC into Japan and recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Ripple to support the issuance of the dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD in the Japanese market.