Crypto markets are sliding, but one of Japan’s most influential financial executives says the selloff has nothing to do with the health of the industry and everything to do with what is coming next in traditional finance.

Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman, President and CEO of SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial conglomerates and a major strategic partner of Ripple, said this week that the current crypto decline is being driven by institutional investors liquidating positions to raise capital for three of the most anticipated IPOs in recent memory: SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI.

“From a fundamental perspective, there are no concerns whatsoever,” Kitao said, adding that he is convinced the crypto market, including Ripple, remains…