SBI Holdings’ Esports Arm to Pay Players in Ripple’s XRP

SBI eSports has announced that its newly-hired professional players: Kenji “Ken” Suzuki and Subaru “Mikey” Sagano will be paid in Ripple’s native altcoin, XRP, according to reports on October 15, 2020.

SBI e-Sports Signs Top Players 

As part of efforts to strengthen its longstanding relationship with Ripple and accelerate crypto adoption, SBI Holdings in collaboration with its eSports arm, SBI e-Sports have hinted that they’ll be paying their eSports players’ salaries in XRP. 

SBI Holdings, Japan’s leading financial services group, successfully branched into the highly lucrative eSports business earlier in June 2020 by launching SBI e-Sports. At the time, the firm revealed plans to hire professional esports teams, manage esports media, and provide consulting services to members of the ecosystem.

Fast forward to October 15, 2020, and the electronic sports outfit has successfully hired its first two professional esports players in Kenji Ken Suzuki, one of Japan’s top SuperSmash Bros. Ultimate players, and Subaru Mikey Sagano, who currently functions as the special adviser and esports coach of the digital Hollywood University.

Salaries to Be Paid in XRP 

Following in the steps of its parent company, SBI Holdings, which has since integrated cryptocurrency and blockchain technology into its processes, SBi eSports has agreed to pay its new signings in XRP.

The firm stated:

“We are pleased to announce that we will conclude a professional contract with Mikey. In addition, the annual salary for Mikey will be paid in the crypto asset XRP instead of Japanese yen, based on the wishes of the player and the sponsorship contract with SBI VC Trade Co., Ltd.”

Since signing a partnership deal with Ripple in January 2016, SBI Holdings has been working hard to promote XRP adoption in Asia. 

Last February, SBI Holdings announced plans to pay its shareholders dividends in XRP, making the financial services conglomerate the second company in the world to achieve such a feat, after its subsidiary Morningstar Co. Ltd successfully paid out dividends in XRP in August 2019.

Notably, the SBI Group announced via a press release on October 9, 2020, that it plans to conduct a security token offering for its eSports platform on October 30, 2020. The STO will be facilitated by BOOSTRY’s ibet blockchain platform which is controlled by Nomura Holdings. 

The team says the STO will offer 1000 shares of SBI eSports to participants at the rate of 50,000 yen per share (roughly $475).