SBI Holdings, one of Japan's largest financial conglomerates, is launching its first blockchain-based bond aimed at individual investors, a 10 billion yen (~$64.5 million) issuance that combines traditional fixed-income features with blockchain settlement and crypto perks.

Called the SBI START Bonds, the securities are fully managed onchain using the “ibet for Fin” platform from BOOSTRY, a specialized enterprise blockchain platform for security token issuance.

These three-year bonds offer an indicative annual interest rate of 1.85% to 2.45%, paid semiannually.

XRP Rewards

The investors in these bonds can also receive rewards in XRP tokens, according to SBI.

Resident retail investors and companies that purchase more than 100,000 yen (around $650) worth and hold an account with SBI VC Trade are eligible to receive rewards in XRP in "an amount corresponding to their subscription amount.”

These bonuses, which the product page details as 200 yen in XRP per 100,000 invested yen, are to be distributed at issuance and again on each interest payment date through 2029.

The bonds are expected to begin secondary trading on March 25 via the Osaka Digital Exchange’s “START” proprietary trading system.

SBI Holdings notably formed a partnership with Ripple back in 2016, and has since then been a supporter of XRP. A subsidiary of the company has even distributed XRP directly to shareholders and supported XRP-powered remittances between Japan and the Philippines.

The company, according to its Chairman and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao, owns roughly 9% of Ripple Labs.

Kitao launched SBI Holdings in 1999 as a SoftBank subsidiary (which later separated into an independent firm in 2006) and has since seen it grow into a financial giant, generating over $8 billion in annual revenue. It first started dealing with blockchain technology through its partnership with Ripple, leading to the creation of SBI Ripple Asia.

The company has since adopted stablecoins. It has partnered with Circle to launch USDC in Japan, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Ripple to distribute its RLUSD stablecoin.