The Great Exodus: Why Are Japanese Investors Choosing XRP Over Bitcoin?

A recent study has revealed that Japanese investors are choosing to invest in Ripple’s XRP over the world’s flagship cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.  

In contrast to the treatment Ripple and the XRP token are receiving in the US, Japan seems more welcoming to the crypto asset, according to a research paper by the Department of Economics and Finance at the City University of Hong Kong. 

According to the report, XRP is preferred over the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap, Bitcoin and Ethereum. It referenced a survey conducted by the Japanese crypto exchange BITMAX, with 25% of the 1,498 respondents who took the survey choosing XRP as their favorite cryptocurrency, while 26% and 9% chose Bitcoin and Ethereum, respectively. 

While this survey may be considered insufficient to prove Japanese investors’ preference for the XRP token, it suggests that the token has quite the following in the country. Interestingly, XRP enjoyed the highest spot trading volume in February last year, with “nearly 1.36 billion units” traded during that period. 

The report attributed Japan’s fondness for the token to the country’s customs and “the confidence that Japan’s largest venture capital fund has in Ripple.” The venture capital firm in question is SBI Holdings, with the company being one of Ripple’s early partners. SBI allegedly invested close to $300 million in Ripple in 2017.

The report labels SBI holdings as the “primary driver of Ripple’s success” in Japan. This assertion may not be far-fetched, especially considering SBI’s role in helping Ripple break into the Japanese market.

In 2016, the financial services company partnered with Ripple to create SBI Ripple Asia with the goal of providing cross-border payment services to banks in the Asian region. Using Ripple’s distributed ledger technology (DLT), these banks can process cross-border transactions in “40 currencies and more than 70 countries.” 

SBI Ripple was to service banks in countries like Japan, China, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries. This move undoubtedly paved the way for Ripple and its XRP token to penetrate the Asian market (Japan in particular) early enough, especially when non-cash payments were on the rise in those countries.

Ripple and XRP’s adoption in the Asian region is also expected to grow further as SBI Remit (a subsidiary company under SBI Holdings) recently expanded the SBI Ripple Asia partnership with the introduction of an XRP-based international remittance service for banks in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

This move aligns with Ripple’s goal to disrupt the global financial system as the crypto asset will be used as a bridge currency for foreigners who want to send money to their families back home. Impressively, Ripple’s Ledger can process these transactions faster and more affordably than the traditional financial system.