Ripple Launches RLUSD in Japan Through SBI Partnership

• Ripple and SBI VC Trade officially launched RLUSD in Japan after the JFSA green light.
• RLUSD has reached a market cap of $1.7 billion since its late 2024 launch.
• Gumi plans to convert $86M in crypto holdings entirely into XRP treasury assets.

Ripple has officially launched its US dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD in Japan following regulatory approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA), partnering with SBI VC Trade to offer the stablecoin to both institutional and retail users through its VCTRADE platform.

The launch delivers on a memorandum of understanding signed between Ripple and SBI Group in August 2025 and marks RLUSD’s first regulated entry into the Japanese market. Under Japan’s Payment Services Act, RLUSD has been categorized as a new type of electronic payment instrument, a classification designed for foreign-issued stablecoins meeting the country’s safety and regulatory standards.

A Decade-Long Partnership Reaches a New Phase

Ripple and SBI Group have worked together since 2016, making this one of the longer-standing institutional relationships in the digital asset space. SBI VC Trade CEO Tomohiko Kondo described the RLUSD launch as a major milestone in the firm’s shared vision for on-chain finance, with plans to expand services and develop new use cases around the stablecoin going forward.

Jack McDonald, Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Stablecoins, framed RLUSD’s Japan entry as a bridge between Japanese businesses and global liquidity, covering payments, tokenization, and collateral management. RLUSD has reached $1.7 billion in market capitalization since its late 2024 launch, with interest growing across settlements and cross-border finance applications.

Gumi Moves to Become Japan’s Largest XRP Treasury Firm

The RLUSD launch landed days after Japanese gaming and blockchain company Gumi announced a major strategic pivot. The company, which held approximately 14 billion yen, around $86 million, in cryptocurrency as of 30 April 2026, said it plans to restructure its entire digital asset portfolio around XRP.

Gumi said it would gradually convert its existing holdings into XRP and consider additional purchases depending on market conditions. The company explicitly set a goal of becoming Japan’s largest XRP holding and management company, shifting from a diversified crypto strategy that had prioritized staking income to one centered on XRP as a core treasury asset. 

Taken together, the two developments reinforce Japan’s growing importance within Ripple’s ecosystem. As regulated stablecoins gain traction and institutions deepen their exposure to XRP, the country is emerging as a key market for Ripple’s long-term expansion.

Related: SBI to Issue Japan’s First Trust-Based Yen-Pegged Stablecoin This Week