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. A recent survey of 518 investment professionals in Japan, conducted by Nomura and Laser Digital between December 2025 and January 2026 and released Apr. 16, found that 63% of respondents identified potential uses for stablecoins, spanning treasury management, cross-border payments, crypto investing, and tokenized securities. Across JPY, USD, and EUR denominations, the stablecoins that drew the highest institutional trust were those issued by major financial institutions. Japan may be Ripple's friendliest proving ground and precisely where the limits of crypto-branded stablecoins become visible. A Nomura and Laser Digital survey of 518 Japanese investment professionals found major financial institution-issued stablecoins ranked highest in trust, with crypto-native issuers ranking lowest. Why Japan was supposed to be different Ripple's position in Japan goes beyond standard distribution agreements. SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture formed from SBI's 2016 investment in Ripple, has operated as part of Ripple's regional infrastructure for nearly a decade. SBI Remit began using Ripple Payments in 2017 and expanded XRP -based remittance corridors into the Philippines, V