By
Godfrey Benjamin
July 3rd, 2024
Users will also have the option to rare NFTs and create NFTs, but these tokens are commemorative and, as a result, cannot be transferred or sold.
SBI Holdings, a financial services company based in Tokyo, Japan, announced non-fungible token (NFT) services on the XRP Ledger, the open-source blockchain created by American fintech firm Ripple, resulting in a surge in the trading volume of the native token of the blockchain XRP.
According to the official announcement from SBI Holdings, a long-time partner of Ripple and also the sponsor of the “EXPO 2025 Digital Wallet” project at the World Expo, starting July 1, users will be able to collect the NFTs, nicknamed “Myaku N!” on the EXPO2025 Digital Wallet, a wallet service provided at the Expo, which is to be held in Osaka/Kansai, as per Google Play Store data. The Play Store description also reads:
“The wallet includes several cashless services such as ‘MYAKU-PE!’ which is a payment service that can be used inside and outside the Expo venue, ‘MYAKU-PO!’ which are reward points earned by participating in Expo-related programs, ‘MYAKU-N!’ which is a reward program with expo-specific NFTs, and the status program, which gives users rewards based on digital wallet usage.”
The minting of the World Expo 2025 NFTs has started on the XRP Ledger, and users can download the official application from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and begin receiving the free NFTs on their wallets. However, it is important to note that the NFT service is only limited to 500 users.
Users will also have the option to rare NFTs and create NFTs, but these tokens are commemorative and, as a result, cannot be transferred or sold. SBI VC Trade, the company’s crypto exchange arm, and SBINFT, the firm’s NFT arm, will cater the service to 28.2 million people who are supposed to visit the Expo in 2025.
SBI Holdings also added that the NFTs, which are a part of the Expo, won’t be visible after October 13, 2025, as the Japanese financial services firm will shut down the EXPO 2025 Digital Wallet after that. Users will also be able to see the tokens in real time using the NFT explorer Bithomp.
The NFTs will be collected as a part of the “MyakuMyaku Reward Program”, depending on the hierarchy of a wallet. Users can improve their standings by participating in various actions taking place at the Expo, including charging “Myakupe!” the Expo’s electronic money.
Surge in XRP Trading Volume
The trading volume of the XRP token surged 67.32%, currently standing at $713 million. Meanwhile, the price of the altcoin is up 1.82% in the past 24 hours, valued at $0.4809 at the time of writing. However, the cryptocurrency is still 87.53% lower than its all-time high of $3.84 witnessed by investors on January 4, 2018.
Moreover, the digital asset has been up only 0.96% in the past seven days, followed by a 7.51% decline in the last 30 days. Since July 2023, XPR went up only 1.97%, being outperformed by the likes of Solana (SOL), which surged almost 700% in that duration. On the other hand, Cardano (ADA) also went up 38.31% since July 2023.