SBI Denies $10B XRP Holdings Bombshell, Confirms 9% Ripple Equity Stake Instead

Hold the phone—and the pitchforks. SBI just dropped a clarification bomb on the crypto rumor mill, shutting down wild speculation about a massive $10 billion XRP treasure chest.

The Real Deal: Equity Over Tokens

Turns out, the Japanese financial giant's golden ticket isn't a mountain of digital coins. It's a solid 9% ownership slice of Ripple itself. That's a strategic equity play, not a speculative token hoard—a move more Warren Buffett than crypto cowboy.

Why This Distinction Rocks the Boat

This isn't just semantics. Holding equity means betting on Ripple the company—its tech, its patents, its global network. It's a long-term vote of confidence in the infrastructure, not just a trade on XRP's next price swing. It signals a belief in the plumbing, not just the water flowing through it.

The Ripple Effect on Perception

SBI's clarification cuts through the noise, reframing a major financial institution's involvement from 'whale accumulation' to 'strategic partnership.' It's a masterclass in corporate messaging that manages to sound both cautious and wildly bullish at the same time. A neat trick, really.

So, while speculators were dreaming of a $10B buy wall, the suits were busy building something far more durable. Sometimes the boring, old-school investment is the most revolutionary one in the room—a lesson Wall Street still hasn't learned after centuries of chasing the next shiny thing.

Several individuals raised concerns over SBI Holdings’s investment in Ripple

SBI Holdings’ CEO, clearing up a misunderstanding about the company’s $10 billion holdings in XRP, noted that the core investment lies in its substantial equity stake in Ripple Labs.

This rumor recently made headlines after an anonymous X social media user under the username Ledger Man praised SBI Holdings’ expansion into crypto in Singapore via the acquisition of Coinhako, Singapore’s leading digital asset platform.

When users mentioned that the Japanese financial services conglomerate held approximately $10 billion in Ripple tokens, several individuals responded. To prevent any further spread of the rumors, Kitao swiftly corrected the misinformation in the post. He began by denying the $10 billion XRP rumor. He clarified that SBI’s actual exposure is through a 9% ownership in Ripple Labs, not a direct, large-scale holding of the digital asset.

“Instead of $10 billion in XRP, it’s actually about 9% of Ripple Labs. This means our hidden asset could be much larger,” he said. Following this statement, analysts argued that Kitao’s phrase “hidden asset” suggests that SBI views its Ripple holdings as undervalued, especially if regulatory clarity and continued growth drive up the XRP issuer’s value.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that this incident shows how fast misinformation spreads in crypto, especially when people confuse equity investments with token holdings.

Several firms embrace tokenization in their operation

Just recently, Ripple made public its partnership with Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc, a major British insurance and savings group. The primary goal of this collaboration is to evaluate the integration of tokenized traditional funds onto the XRP Ledger. With this move, Ripple secures its first-ever partnership with a European investment management firm.

The two firms said in a statement that Aviva Investors seeks to utilize XRPL, an open-source, decentralized, public blockchain, to facilitate the issuance and management of tokenized funds.

At this point, sources clarified that this project illustrates Aviva Investors’ inaugural venture into tokenized fund structures, with significant expansion projected for 2026 and beyond.

Nigel Khakoo, Ripple’s Vice President of Trading and Markets, decided to comment on this matter. He noted that “Tokenization is shifting from testing to widespread use,” further noting that, “We think that creating tokenized fund structures can bring significant technological improvements to the investment industry, and we anticipate seeing this fully realized in the next ten years.” 

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