Japanese company SBI Holdings, a vocal advocate of Ripple (XRP), has announced that its crypto exchange VCTrade will open up its crypto services to institutional investors.
Speaking to CoinTelegraph, one spokesperson said plans are in place to accommodate institutional investors,
SBIVC currently offers services only for retail customers. After AML/CFT and custody solutions that we are planning to implement are finalized, we would like to move forward and start providing services to institutional investors. Prioritizing customer asset protection, the SBI Group will make use of its synergies between current businesses, such as securities and FX, to acquire new customers.
SBI Holdings has long been bullish on Ripple, with its CEO Yoshitaka Kitao saying that he expects banks in Japan to use XRP by 2025. Kitao has joined Ripple’s Board of Directors. The company itself has also announced an app called MoneyTap that focused on micropayments, and which has received investment from 13 banks in Japan.
Institutional investment is seen as an activity that could greatly boost the prices of various tokens, though prices rarely correspond directly, and immediately, to such developments. Both Bakkt and Fidelity, which are two major institutional investment focused ventures that has constantly made the news, are often mentioned in the context of market growth.
