High-profile gamer Kengo Suzuki has signed a contract with SBI e-sports and will be paid wholly in XRP instead of the Japanese Yen.
In a new statement, SBI says that Kengo “KEN” Suzuki has officially joined the newly-established Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (SSBU) division of SBI e-Sports, the gaming arm of financial giant SBI Holdings.
KEN is a professional player of the crossover action fighting game SSBU by Nintendo, and is also considered to be one of the world’s leading Wii U Sonic players, ranked as the 9th best player of all time on the PGR100.
The professional gamer confirmed his participation in the SBI e-Sports team in a Twitter post, highlighting his choice to receive his entire salary in XRP.
On September 30th, SBI Holdings announced that its e-Sports team will be sponsored by its crypto trading venture SBI VC Trade Company. As part of the sponsorship deal, e-Sports professional players like KEN can opt to receive their salary in Ripple’s native asset XRP, according to the statement.
The Japanese financial giant has been a staunch Ripple investor since 2016 and has since been an active promoter of XRP.
The company established SBI e-Sports back in June, through which it plans to operate a professional e-Sports team, develop partnerships with local and international companies and promote brand awareness.
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