Ripple’s dollar stablecoin hits a wall in Japan, one of XRP’s friendliest markets, as megabanks earn most of the trust

Japan has long been one of Ripple’s most fertile markets. SBI’s investment in Ripple dates to 2016, SBI Remit launched Japan’s first XRP-enabled international remittance flow in 2021, and SBI VC Trade counts XRP among its most popular assets. When Ripple and SBI announced in August 2025 that SBI VC Trade intended to distribute RLUSD in Japan, the move read as a natural extension of an already deep local partnership. …