Japan's Startale, SBI to launch regulated yen stablecoin

Startale Group and SBI Holdings plan to launch a fully regulated stablecoin pegged to the Japanese yen by Q2 2026 to support global settlement.

Startale, a Japan-based blockchain infrastructure company, and SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial groups, will collaborate under a new agreement to develop the digital currency.

Shinsei Trust & Banking, a subsidiary of SBI Shinsei Bank, will manage issuance and redemption, while SBI VC Trade will handle circulation as a licensed cryptocurrency exchange.

The initiative comes amid Japan’s new regulatory sandbox for blockchain-based payments and follows a pilot of yen-backed stablecoins by the country’s three megabanks.

The yen stablecoin will be issued by a trust bank and is intended for global settlement and institutional use.

Startale will oversee technology development, while SBI will focus on compliance and distribution.

🔗 Source: Startale

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Japan’s trust bank stablecoin model may face cross-border hurdles

Japan’s 2023 stablecoin framework lets only licensed banks, funds transfer service providers (licensed money transmitters) or trust companies issue fiat-backed tokens 1. The law labels these tokens as “Currency Denominated Assets” under the funds transfer regime 1. Shinsei Trust & Banking fits the domestic rules as the issuing trust bank. Public guidance does not make clear whether cross-border settlement with trust bank issued, fiat-backed tokens needs extra FSA approvals.
The Q2 2026 launch date assumes clarity on international transfers. Regulators center the framework on consumer protection and domestic oversight 1. There is little precedent for trust bank issued tokens used in global settlement. The project may need added FSA guidance or approvals through a regulatory sandbox (a supervised testing program for new financial services) to support the international use case for Startale and SBI.

Yen stablecoin launch creates liquidity infrastructure gaps for exchanges and payment providers

Dollar-pegged stablecoins make up over 99% of global supply 2, so yen liquidity is thin. JPYC is a privately issued yen stablecoin. It recently saw about $3,163 in daily volume on Uniswap and Quickswap 3. Both are decentralized exchanges (blockchain-based trading venues). This falls far short of what institutional settlement needs. Payment service providers and crypto exchanges that serve Japanese corporate clients will need USD/JPY trading pairs and liquidity pools (capital that enables on-chain trading) before the planned yen token can support meaningful volume.
Market makers that provide two-sided quotes can move first 4. Decentralized exchanges can set up yen venues before Japan’s three megabanks release rival products 4. More than half of Japanese institutional investors plan digital asset allocations of 2-5% of AUM within three years 4. Providers that solve yen liquidity first will win share as cashless payments reach 42.8% of transactions in 2024 2.