TL;DR:
- SBI Holdings plans a yen-denominated stablecoin for cross-border settlement, targeting launch in Q2 of fiscal year 2026 with Startale Group.
- Japan accelerates adoption: JPYC is presented as the first fully regulated stablecoin in yen, and the FSA supports a pilot with Mitsubishi UFJ, SMBC, and Mizuho.
- SBI will handle compliance, distribution and reserves via SBI VC Trade and Shinsei Trust and Banking, while Startale leads smart contract design and security.
SBI Holdings is positioning itself in programmable money, planning a regulated Japanese yen stablecoin that targets cross-border settlement and taps a market above $300 billion. The long-standing Ripple partner, with a $15.09 billion market cap and the SBI VC Trade exchange, says it will unveil the token in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026. The project will be built with Startale Group, a blockchain startup that has worked on Ethereum layer 2 projects with Sony.
Japan’s yen stablecoin push accelerates
SBI chair and president Yoshitaka Kitao framed the initiative as a compliance-first growth lane, saying the firm will apply Japan’s new stablecoin framework to modernize cross-border settlement and integrate digital finance with traditional rails. SBI says it wants the coin to circulate domestically and globally, accelerating delivery of digital financial services that are fully integrated with legacy financial infrastructure and regulated distribution channels for financial institutions worldwide, with go-to-market plans calibrated for institutional adoption at scale.
Momentum in Japan is building quickly, with the late-October release of JPYC described as the country’s first fully regulated yen-pegged coin and more incumbents now evaluating issuance. Scores of other domestic industry players are jumping aboard the yen stablecoin bandwagon. Japan’s Financial Services Agency has given its blessing to a joint yen-backed pilot involving Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, and Mizuho, while an industry insider said several other financial groups are developing their own yen stablecoin plans.
SBI and Startale say their memorandum of understanding aims to create a coin that can function as a global settlement currency and a unit of account for tokenized real-world assets. They argue the current stablecoin market is still heavily concentrated in US dollar assets, while yen-pegged stablecoins represent just 0.02% of global supply. Before launch, the partners say they will complete all necessary compliance measures and focus on smart contract design and security systems for users.
Operationally, SBI will lead regulatory compliance and institutional distribution, circulating the stablecoin through SBI VC Trade, while Shinsei Trust and Banking, part of SBI Shinsei Bank, will manage the reserve assets. Startale CEO Sota Watanabe pledged to push Japan toward an onchain revolution, as Kitao called tokenization of real-world assets an irreversible societal trend. Together, they are pitching a yen alternative inside a market processing trillions of dollars in onchain transactions annually for treasury and liquidity.
