Japan’s SBI Group to adopt XRP payments despite SEC v. Ripple lawsuit

• Japan's SBI Group has announced the acceptance of XRP payments, making Ripple mainstream.
• Investors fear a continuation of the XRP downtrend as the altcoin plummets below its point of control at $0.62.
• After selling pressure on the altcoin eases, analysts predict a short-term recovery in XRP price.

Japan’s SBI Holdings, a financial services company group, based in Tokyo, has made a move to make Ripple mainstream. XRP payments are now accepted by SBI Motor Japan, a part of a leading Japanese conglomerate. 

XRP could begin recovery with major push in adoption

SBI Africa’s cross-border e-commerce platform SBI Motor Japan has started accepting cryptocurrency payments in Ripple and Bitcoin. The e-commerce platform announced that XRP and BTC will now be accepted payment methods, making SBI Motor Japan the first platform in the country to adopt Ripple.

The announcement reads:

Crypto asset remittances use the blockchain (distributed ledger), so even if the banking system stops functioning, as long as the Internet is operational, remittances can continue to be used without being affected by the failure of an exchange, etc.

Despite the ongoing SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, the SBI Group has played a key role in expanding XRP’s utility, embracing payments in the altcoin and driving its adoption globally. The Securities & Exchange Commission has charged Ripple and co-founders Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse with a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering through XRP sale. 

The SEC’s stance is that XRP is an unregistered security, however SBI Holdings, the Japanese conglomerate group, has a different opinion. Accepting XRP payments, the group considers Ripple a digital asset and not a security.  

The Japanese conglomerate group’s SBI Motor wing exports over 5,000 vehicles every year to markets in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Ireland, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, the Caribbean and African countries. 

The SBI Group is a key partner of global payments giant Ripple. The company has announced several initiatives like offering eligible shareholders free XRP rewards and dividends every year through a program that was first launched in August 2019. 

Analysts have evaluated the XRP price trend and believe the altcoin is close to a bottom. @egragcrypto, an analyst and trader, argues the $0.50 range has acted as a critical level and could be the altcoin’s potential bottom. Since 2018, the $0.50 level has played a pivotal role over nine times, acting as resistance or support. 

The analyst observed the two-month XRP price chart and noted a cup-and-handle formation with the edge of the handle’s confluence at $0.50. This implies this level is Ripple’s potential bottom and a strong entry point for traders.

---