SBI Shinsei Bank Launches BTC ETH XRP Deposit and Spending Reward Program
SBI Shinsei Bank, through its subsidiary APLUS, has launched a crypto reward mechanism in collaboration with Visa, allowing deposit and credit card spending users to earn BTC, ETH, or XRP as rewards.
The program automatically converts spending points into selected crypto assets each month and deposits them into SBI VC Trade accounts without exchange fees. Additionally, shareholder benefits and specific deposit activities also offer XRP rewards, aimed at attracting retail customers to participate in the crypto ecosystem.
In terms of market mechanisms, traditional Japanese banks are accelerating crypto integration, shifting deposit funds from zero yield to crypto-linked products. Buyers are retail depositors and investors seeking yield and exposure to digital assets, while sellers are traditional fixed-income products. The beneficiaries are SBI Group's VC Trade platform, and the pressured parties are competing banks that have not kept up.
Source: Public Information
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SBI Shinsei Bank, as a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, has previously made significant investments in the XRP and Ripple ecosystem, including issuing blockchain bonds that offer XRP rewards and allowing shareholders to choose XRP for dividends. This expansion into BTC and ETH deposit/spending rewards continues its transformation from a traditional bank to a crypto-friendly institution, having previously expanded its retail crypto customer base through SBI VC Trade.
In terms of capital strategy, SBI is mobilizing resources from its banking, securities, and credit card divisions to convert customer deposits and spending funds into entry points for crypto assets. This move not only enhances the attractiveness and stickiness of deposits but also creates multiple revenue streams through fees, trading volumes, and ecosystem partnerships, providing financial support for the group to capture market share in Japan's loosening crypto regulatory environment.
Similar to early Japanese banks that attracted deposits through low-interest strategies before shifting to wealth management, SBI Shinsei Bank is currently in an expansion phase, transitioning from traditional deposit and loan services to a crypto-integrated banking model, solidifying its position in the intersection of retail finance and digital assets through multi-asset rewards.
Essentially, this represents a technological substitution and restructuring of the industry chain: the crypto reward mechanism directly replaces traditional cash interest or point systems, linking bank deposits with crypto trading platforms through blockchain assets, accelerating the concentration of capital from traditional finance to hybrid crypto products, and reshaping the pricing power and customer relationship structure of retail banking.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
In the era of zero interest rates, crypto returns serve as a new leverage for deposits.
The more traditional the bank, the more competitive the crypto entry point becomes.
The lower the cost of reward conversion, the more irreversible the user migration.