SBI Shinsei Bank to Pay Part of Deposit Interest in Cryptocurrency

SBI Shinsei Bank plans to launch a new program under which part of deposit income will be paid not in cash, but through a certificate redeemable for cryptocurrency, Nikkei.

How it will work:

1. A customer places funds in a deposit account.
2. The bank pays standard interest in local currency.
3. The customer also receives a certificate equal to 20% of the accrued interest income.
4. The certificate can be redeemed for BTC, ETH, or XRP.
5. Redemption is carried out at the market rate at the time of the transaction.

The new product is designed to create a seamless experience between SBI Group’s banking and crypto services. It will encourage two-way engagement between SBI Shinsei Bank and the SBI VC Trade platform within the broader SBI Holdings ecosystem.

The program is scheduled to launch in fall 2026.

The initiative aligns with SBI Holdings’ strategy of strengthening ties between traditional banking services and the group’s crypto infrastructure. For retail customers, the offering will provide a more gradual entry point into digital assets without requiring them to purchase cryptocurrencies with their own funds from the outset.

In August 2025, Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Group announced strategic partnerships with Ripple, Circle, Startale Group, and Chainlink. The partnerships were aimed at accelerating digital asset adoption, expanding the stablecoin market, and developing infrastructure for tokenized assets across Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.

A month later, SBI’s banking unit launched a study on cross-border settlements using tokenized deposits in collaboration with Partior and DeCurret DCP. In December of the same year, SBI Holdings and Startale Group agreed to jointly develop a fully regulated yen-backed stablecoin targeting the global market.

In March, SBI VC Trade launched a retail lending service denominated in USDC for customers in Japan. The offering became the first service of its kind among the country’s licensed crypto companies.