SBI Group, the Japanese financial services firm, has enabled XRP lending through its cryptocurrency-related subsidiary, SBI VC Trade.
It has been reported that SBI VC Trade Lending users can now earn interest by depositing their XRP holdings between 1,000 and 100,000 XRP, with the lending period lasting up to 84 days.
SBI stated:
“VC Trade Lending is a service that allows customers to rent out their crypto assets to the company and receive interest rewards according to the quantity and duration of the crypto assets.”
However, the annual interest rate for lending XRP amounts to 0.1% with taxes included.
The report said that the XRP interest rate is significantly lower than the rate for lending Bitcoin (BTC) to SBI, as the company officially rolled out its crypto lending platform in November 2020 by allowing users to earn 1% interest from depositing BTC.
A Japanese financial firm opened lending services for XRP. Will the 0.1% annual interest be enough to attract future lenders? https://t.co/bviMGFdRbE — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) February 4, 2021
Likewise, the new listing on SBI’s lending platform comes amid ongoing legal issues for the altcoin. Ripple, the company behind several products based on XRP, is now facing a federal lawsuit in the United States for alleged violations of US securities laws by selling unregistered securities.
The Financial Services Agency, the Japanese financial regulator, believes that XRP is not a security.
Thus, SBI has emerged as a major Ripple partner, introducing multiple XRP-base products, as in October 2020, Yoshitaka Kitao, the CEO of SBI, said that Japan is the most likely country for Ripple to move to if the firm is forced to leave the United States.
Source: Cointelegraph