A sports subsidiary of Japan's $600b giant SBI Holdings (8473.T), SBI-esports, announced that it will use Ripple's XRP token for some salary payments to e-sport players, as part of a "sponsorship deal" with its venture capital fund, SBI VC Trade Co., Ltd.
- There are less than a few hundred players who would receive such payments, which could quickly be converted into fiat for a few dollars in transaction fees.
- Ripple has a long history of incentivizing the use of XRP through complicated deal structures for marketing purposes.
- It famously has paid over $81m to incentivize the use of XRP at MoneyGram.
- Funded by years of XRP token sales, Ripple's Xpring initiative provided nearly $100m alongside blockchain platform Forte to boost the adoption of blockchain technology in Japan's gaming industry.
- SBI is also receiving incentives to use Ripple's settlement platform called MoneyTap.
- In June, SBI announced plans for launching a crypto asset fund with an allocation to XRP.
- Various XRP lawsuits are ongoing.
- Class action plaintiffs allege that Garlinghouse personally liquidated at least $100m of XRP during 2017.
- The Financial Times has reported that Ripple is struggling to find compelling uses for XRP.
