Japan-based financial services company SBI Group announced today that its SBI Africa cross-border e-commerce platform, dubbed SBI Motor Japan, will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple (XRP) payments.
SBI Motor Japan Adopts BTC and XRP
The development makes SBI Motor Japan the first cross-border e-commerce platform in Japan to add XRP as a payment option.
SBI Motor Japan is a cross-border e-commerce platform that provides information on second-hand automobiles to African countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia. Its services also stretch to countries outside Africa, including Ireland, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
The platform exports over 5,000 vehicles to the aforementioned countries every year.
According to SBI, the payments will be facilitated via its VCTrade Co., Ltd., the platform’s crypto exchange.
“Crypto asset remittances use the blockchain (distributed ledger), so even if the banking system stops functioning, as long as the Internet is operational, remittances can continue to be used without being affected by the failure of exchange etc,” SBI said.
SBI noted that it will implement anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures for security purposes as well as screening its clients.
“We will continue to expand our services to meet the needs of our customers, and will not stop with SBI Motor Japan’s support for crypto-asset settlements,” the company said.
SBI Group also noted that it is looking to add other crypto assets to its list of supported payments in the future.
The move comes at a time when cryptocurrency adoption has been gaining traction in Africa.
Between July 2020 and June 2021, the African cryptocurrency market received over $105 billion in payments, a 1,200% spike from previous years, data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis revealed.
Crypto for Payments
Meanwhile, major firms and corporations have continued to add crypto payments in a bid to meet their customers’ growing demands for them.
Just last week, popular luxury gym club Equinox collaborated with crypto exchange BitPay to support crypto asset payments.
That same week, luxury fashion powerhouse Gucci announced it would start accepting crypto as payment in its U.S. stores.
