Ripple recently announced a partnership with HashKey Group on April 30, furthering its collaboration with financial services giant SBI Group. The joint venture with HashKey DX, a Tokyo-based consulting company, aims to introduce XRP Ledger (XRPL) enterprise solutions to the Japanese market. This partnership will deploy supply chain finance solutions in Japan, with SBI Group companies being the first to utilize this solution. HashKey Group launched blockchain supply chain solutions in 2019 and has seen significant adoption in mainland China.
SBI Holdings, a Tokyo-based financial services company, has a long-standing partnership with Ripple dating back to 2017. In November 2023, SBI Holdings launched a fund to boost Web3 and fintech startups in the region. Additionally, the company collaborated with stablecoin issuer Circle to boost USDC adoption in Japan.
Ripple’s native token, XRP, did not have a significant reaction to the partnership news and was trading slightly higher at $0.514 at the time of writing. XRP has been trading sideways for the past two years due to legal battles with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite reaching a high of $0.734 in 2024, XRP has since retreated and remains significantly below its all-time high of $3.40 in 2018.