SBI’s Solana partnership, including a renamed SBI Solana Global venture for stablecoins, tokenized assets and payments, drew backlash from Cardano and XRP supporters because of Japan’s historical ties to both ecosystems.
Charles Hoskinson defended Cardano after SBI Holdings partnered with the Solana Foundation on a Japan-focused on-chain financial market, a move that also prompted debate among XRP supporters about SBI’s broader blockchain strategy. The initiative includes renaming SBI R3 Japan to SBI Solana Global, with the Solana Foundation joining SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and is aimed at stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, cross-border payments, institutional on-chain finance and related financial infrastructure on Solana. The reaction was especially sharp because Japan was a major market in Cardano’s early history, with nearly 90% of ADA’s initial token sale completed by Japanese investors, and because SBI has long been a close Ripple ally through SBI Ripple Asia and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao’s support for XRP. Hoskinson said securing such commercial deals requires funded commercial representation and argued Cardano’s community should use the treasury to finance partnership efforts rather than blame him. He also said neither EMURGO nor the Cardano Foundation is under contract to pursue specific deals. ADA was down 11.5% over the past week from around $0.1893 to nearly $0.1585, with $0.1640 cited as a key resistance level and the July 1 low near $0.1427 as a downside reference if selling pressure persists.