How does SBI use XRP for Japan remittances?

The full answer

How does a payment move through SBI’s XRP route?

The first version of the route, in 2021, paid out through Coins.ph: Ripple’s July 2021 release says SBI Remit would connect with Coins.ph and SBI VC Trade on RippleNet for payments from Japan to the Philippines [2]. SBI’s 2023 announcement sets out the steps. SBI Remit, the SBI Group’s international remittance company, sends the customer’s payment request. SBI VC Trade, a crypto asset exchange in the same group, sends XRP in response in real time. Tranglo, a cross-border payments company, processes the payout request and pays into the beneficiary’s bank account in the receiving country. SBI Remit has used Ripple’s payment products since 2017, and in 2021 it became the first remittance company in Japan to use Ripple’s crypto-enabled solution that uses XRP as a bridge between two fiat currencies, SBI said [1]. SBI’s 2023 announcement sets out the steps for the bank-account route. SBI Remit, an international remittance service provider of SBI Group, will send the customer’s payment request, and SBI VC Trade, a crypto asset exchange business operator, will send XRP in response to the request in real time. Tranglo, a cross-border payments provider, will process the customer’s payout request from SBI Remit and pay out to the beneficiary’s bank account in the receiving country [1]. The same announcement says SBI Remit has used Ripple Payments since 2017, and that in 2021 it was the first international money transfer service provider in Japan to use Ripple Payments’ crypto-enabled payments solution, which uses XRP as a bridge between two fiat currencies [1]. The general mechanics of this product are covered in how Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity uses XRP, and the exchanges on each side are covered in which exchanges provide XRP liquidity for ODL.

When did ODL go live in Japan, and where does it reach?

Ripple announced on July 28, 2021 what it called RippleNet’s first live On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) implementation in Japan, with SBI Remit [2]. SBI Holdings’ October 2021 results presentation says SBI Remit launched the service, using Ripple’s payment infrastructure and XRP, for remittances from Japan to the Philippines on July 28 [3]. SBI Ripple Asia’s page, which carries no date, says ODL using XRP as a bridge currency has already been commercialized in Japan [4].

SBI’s 2023 announcement widened the route from digital wallets in the Philippines to bank accounts in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia [1]. The document’s title describes this as a gradual expansion.

Thailand is a separate case. Ripple’s SBI Remit case study says SBI Remit uses RippleNet with Siam Commercial Bank for payments between Japan and Thailand, and reports more than 10 billion yen in monthly cumulative payment volume and 3-second settlement [5]. The case study is undated and does not mention XRP. SBI Ripple Asia lists a June 30, 2017 notice of the first Japan-Thailand remittance service using distributed ledger technology [4]. Because RippleNet can run entirely in fiat [8], the Thailand figures show Ripple software use, not XRP use.

Why does SBI use XRP instead of prefunded accounts?

SBI’s October 2021 presentation states that using XRP as a bridge currency reduces credit risk and pre-funding costs and enhances competitiveness [3]. Ripple’s July 2021 release says RippleNet customers can use XRP to eliminate pre-funding and reduce operational costs [2]. The same release cited World Bank figures that remitting from Japan costs an average of 10.5%, against 5.92% from G8 countries [2]. None of these sources gives the cost of a payment on the XRP route itself; the comparison with other methods is covered in whether XRP is cheaper for cross-border payments.

Did Tranglo expand ODL after its pilot?

Tranglo said on March 1, 2022 that it had enabled Ripple’s ODL service for all its payment corridors, which its headline puts at 25, so remittance providers could pay without costly pre-funding [6]. It said this followed its pilot ODL deployment in September 2021, which processed 250,000 transactions worth USD 48 million in the first 100 days, and that ODL transactions at the time originated from markets including Australia, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore [6]. Those pilot figures average about USD 192 per transaction. This follows from Tranglo’s totals. AllAboutXRP noted in September 2026 that Tranglo’s current asset mix is not disclosed per payment [7]. How far ODL spread beyond these corridors is covered in how far Ripple’s ODL expanded.

How has monthly volume changed since 2021?

No evidence record in this page’s evidence set provides a monthly or yearly series of XRP-settled volume for SBI’s routes. The available figures are single points. Tranglo’s 2022 release gives its pilot totals [6]. Ripple’s undated case study gives more than 10 billion yen a month for the Japan-Thailand RippleNet route, without tying it to XRP [5]. The figure is attributed to sources including an SBI Holdings annual report for 2025 [10], but I could not find those documents as of October 3, 2026, so the figure remains unverified.

What stakes do SBI and Ripple hold in each other, and does that affect how organic this use is?

SBI’s 2023 announcement describes Ripple as an investee of SBI Holdings, and SBI Ripple Asia as a joint venture between SBI Holdings and Ripple [1]. SBI Holdings also offers XRP to shareholders as a benefit, its October 2021 presentation says [3]. None of the evidence records cited on this page documents the size of SBI’s Ripple stake or any Ripple stake in Tranglo.

The sender, the XRP exchange and the joint venture selling the software are all SBI companies or SBI investments. The route shows that XRP settlement runs in production. It does not show demand from a customer with no stake in Ripple or XRP.

How is XRP regulated in Japan, and what does that allow SBI to do?

Coinpedia, in an undated TradingView news item, reported that Japanese authorities plan to reclassify XRP as a regulated financial product under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act by Q2 2026, a move it said could open doors for institutions and allow XRP to be used in banking, investments, and structured financial products. I could not find any record showing that this reclassification was actually carried out, as of my check on October 2, 2026. They do show how the group divides the work. SBI VC Trade, which sends the XRP, is described by SBI as a crypto asset exchange business operator [1]. SBI Ripple Asia, which sells RippleNet software, states on its page that it does not handle XRP at all [4]. Ripple’s 2021 release linked its Asia Pacific growth to progressive crypto regulation in the region [2]. In this design, only the licensed exchange arm handles XRP.

What is the strongest evidence against reading this as broad demand for XRP?

AllAboutXRP, updated September 8, 2026, counts SBI Remit among the few institutions with clear first-party evidence of XRP use through ODL, but notes that historical evidence proves use at that time, not that every current transaction still uses XRP [7]. 24/7 Wall St. reported on April 1, 2026 that RippleNet is a network banks can run entirely in fiat, and that only around 40% of RippleNet partners use ODL [8]. CaptainAltcoin put the general point on September 10, 2026: “Connected to Ripple” does not mean “uses XRP” [9]. The wider question of whether partnership news signals token demand is covered in whether Ripple partnership announcements mean demand for XRP, and the evidence across other banks is in do banks actually use XRP.