Shareholders of Japan's financial conglomerate SBI Holdings are recording average profits of more than four times their average purchase price on XRP received through the company's shareholder benefit programme, it has been found.

On Feb. 17, local time, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that XRP community figure Eri (에리) relayed the information, citing SBI's latest financial report released on Feb. 4.

SBI began paying dividends in XRP as part of its shareholder benefit programme in March 2020. It has since made a total of 6 dividend distributions, with a weighted average purchase price for the tokens calculated at 58.8 yen.

As of Feb. 2, 2026, the market price of the distributed XRP was about 252.46 yen per token, about 4 times the weighted average purchase price. The report said XRP distributed in fiscal 2019 to 2022 traded in the 20 to 100 yen range at the time, but has now risen sharply in value to near 250 yen.

A similar trend appeared in dollar terms. XRP rose from about $0.285 in 2019 to above $0.5 in November 2024, then crossed $1, $2 and $3 in succession within 3 months. The current price is about $1.45, around 60 percent below its peak, but it remains in a high-profit range compared with the initial dividend price.

The case is assessed as an example showing the effectiveness of a long-term holding strategy. SBI shareholders were able to secure XRP at prices lower than the market average through dividends and expanded valuation gains by holding over a long period.

SBI has maintained a close partnership with Ripple and has actively supported the spread of XRP in Japan and Asian markets. SBI Holdings Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao (요시타카 키타오) recently said SBI holds about 9 percent of Ripple and that the stake is worth more than $10 billion.

With XRP's price rising by several times compared with the time of the dividends, SBI shareholders are holding substantial unrealised gains. The industry is also paying attention to the possibility that the scale of those gains could expand further depending on future trends in the cryptocurrency market.