Morningstar, a financial information service subsidiary of Japanese financial giant sbi, will continue to pay shareholders in XRP as dividends.

According to an official announcement on March 12, Morningstar has approved to pay year-end shareholder dividends in the form of XRP.

This move is part of the company’s year-end bonus program to pay tribute to shareholders for their continued companionship. Under the program, Morningstar will provide a 2,500 Japanese Yen (23 USD) XRP reward per 100 shares owned by shareholders as of March 31, 2021.

The exact amount of XRP allocated to shareholders will be determined by the market price of XRP on June 30, 2021, SBI noted. As part of the initiative, Morningstar will require shareholders to open crypto accounts through the SBI VC Trade exchange belonging to the SBI Group.

As previously reported, Morningstar started paying dividends in XRP in 2019, offering 30 XRP per 100 shares. Headquartered in Tokyo, this company focuses on providing financial information and investment research services. At the time of writing, the company’s shares are trading at 493 yen ($ 4.50), up more than 2% over the past 24 hours, with a market cap of 44.2 billion yen ($ 407,000).

Morningstar’s SBI Group, which has also considered paying dividends in cryptocurrency XRP, is considering launching such a program in 2020. The group has been actively involved in the development of products. is based on XRP in its ecosystem, supporting XRP lending on the crypto platform SBI VC Trade in February.

SBI has voiced support for Ripple during the ongoing legal battle between the blockchain company and the US SEC. SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao says that Japan is the country most likely for Ripple to relocate if they are forced to leave the United States.