{"id":72514,"date":"2026-02-16T07:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T07:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=72514"},"modified":"2026-02-16T07:31:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T07:31:31","slug":"sbi-ceo-calls-ripple-stake-a-hidden-asset-hints-it-could-be-much-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=72514","title":{"rendered":"SBI CEO Calls Ripple Stake A \u2018Hidden Asset,\u2019 Hints It Could Be Much Bigger"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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\u2019s more consequential exposure sits in its equity position in Ripple Labs, a stake he suggested the market may be underappreciating.<\/p>\n

The exchange began after an X account described SBI as \u201ca major partner of Ripple\u201d and \u201cholder of $10 billion in XRP,\u201d tying the claim to SBI\u2019s growing footprint in Asia through the acquisition of Coinhako, a regulated crypto platform based in Singapore. Kitao replied directly, disputing the framing and pointing to SBI\u2019s ownership in Ripple rather than a headline XRP number.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot $10 bil. in XRP but around 9% of Ripple Lab. So our hidden asset could be much bigger,\u201d Kitao wrote<\/a> in a Feb. 15 post.<\/p>\n

SBI CEO Dials Up Ripple Valuation Speculation<\/h2>\n

Kitao\u2019s response effectively reframed the conversation from balance-sheet token inventory to private-market ownership. Rather than validate a specific XRP figure, he emphasized SBI\u2019s stake in Ripple Labs, a detail that matters because equity value is ultimately a function of Ripple\u2019s overall valuation, not the spot price<\/a> of XRP.<\/p>\n

In a separate post the same day, Kitao went further, explicitly tying his view to Ripple\u2019s broader footprint. \u201cWhen it comes to Ripple Lab\u2019s total valuation which obviously include its ecosystem that Ripple has created, that would be enormous,\u201d he wrote. \u201cSBI owns more than 9 % of that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community member \u201cBankXRP\u201d amplified the implications by referencing recent reports<\/a> that place Ripple\u2019s valuation at \u201c$50B+,\u201d arguing that such a mark would put SBI\u2019s 9% stake at \u201c$4.5B+,\u201d with \u201cmassive future upside as the CEO hints.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Kitao did not put a dollar figure on SBI\u2019s stake, the 9% number sets a clean valuation yardstick. If SBI\u2019s Ripple ownership were worth more than $10 billion, Ripple\u2019s implied valuation would need to exceed roughly $111 billion, because $10 billion divided by 0.09 equals about $111.1 billion.<\/p>\n

Put differently, 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. The threshold for \u201cmore than $10 billion\u201d is therefore not a subtle rounding error, it requires a triple-digit billions valuation for Ripple.<\/p>\n

Notably, SBI\u2019s roughly 9% position appears to be the product of a long-running strategic relationship rather than a single headline trade: SBI\u2019s own investor materials describe the Ripple relationship as having been \u201cestablished\u201d in September 2012, with the group later investing in Ripple in March 2016 and then deepening operational ties through the SBI Ripple Asia joint venture<\/a> (SBI 60%, Ripple 40%) launched in May 2016.<\/p>\n

SBI also participated as an investor in Ripple\u2019s $200 million Series C financing announced in December 2019, a round that included SBI alongside other backers, one of the clearer public datapoints showing continued equity exposure as Ripple raised capital.<\/p>\n

At press time, XRP traded at $1.46.<\/p>\n

\"XRP<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s more consequential exposure sits in its equity position in Ripple Labs, a stake he suggested the market may be underappreciating. The exchange began after an X account described SBI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-72514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}