On August 28, 2020, major financial services startup SBI Holdings, announced that it would start supporting contract for differences (CFD) trading for crypto via its forex trading subsidiary SBI FX Trade.
The new service that will reportedly offer CFD trading for three top cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, and XRP) is scheduled to launch on August 31. Still, SBI FX Trade is already accepting new account registrations.
According to the official announcement by SBI holdings, the new derivative instrument will offer six trading pairs for BTC, XRP, and ETH, which will be quoted against the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese yen.
CFDs are unique from other forms of trading in that they allow investors to speculate on several asset classes without actually owning the underlying asset. They also tend to offer better liquidity and security than spot exchanges.
SBI FX Trade is set to be the pioneering Forex startup in Japan to support digital assets’ CFD trading. The platform plans to foster crypto adoption by offering Japanese traders with increased exposure to digital asset markets.
The SBI subsidiary has also launched a smartphone app for trading crypto CFDs, where users can easily open a trading position of up to 10M XRP, 10K ETH, or 500 BTC.
New CFD Platform to Offer Higher Leverage
By launching the first-ever CFD platform for digital assets in Japan, SBI Holdings demonstrates its ambition to offer users with advanced crypto trading opportunities.
SBI FX Trade users can now diversify their portfolios with digital assets such as XRP while also speculating on precious metals and other traditional investment instruments.
What’s more, advanced traders will get the opportunity to trade with higher leverage than would be possible in crypto exchanges.
To open a position on the SBI FX Trade platform, users will need to make a contract with a CFD broker that specifies the size of their intended position, charges, and other relevant details.
SBI Holdings Is Ripple’s High-Profile Partner
Interestingly, SBI holdings have long been a key partner XRP-affiliated startup Ripple, having participated in Series C funding for the blockchain tech giant.
Back in 2018, Ripple partnered with SBI holdings to co-develop a payments technology dubbed MoneyTap that would improve Japan’s payment infrastructure.
Shortly after the payment system launch, SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture between SBI and Ripple, revealed that it would also head up a Japan Bank Consortium consisting of 61 banks.
The consortium would tap into the power of the Ripple blockchain to allow more than 80% of all banking assets in Japan to be transferred in real-time for instant domestic payments.
More recently, in May 2020, SBI holdings announced that it plans to integrate Ripple’s MoneyTap with ATMs run by numerous banks across Japan.
