Briefly
- Japan’s MUFG Financial institution, Mizuho Financial institution, and SMBC have established a council to develop operational frameworks for stablecoin issuance.
- The banks plan to launch a collectively issued stablecoin by the top of the 2026 fiscal 12 months.
- The collaboration comes on the heels of a wave of institutional stablecoin exercise in Japan because the introduction of a licensing regime in 2023.
Japan’s three largest banks—MUFG Financial institution, Mizuho Financial institution, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Company—have established a council to develop operational frameworks for collectively issuing a stablecoin by March 2027.
Per an announcement, the stablecoin can be issued beneath a belief settlement, with the three banks serving as joint settlors, whereas a “belief financial institution or related establishment” will act as trustee. The banks are focusing on a joint launch in fiscal 12 months 2026, “with a watch towards the potential use of stablecoins throughout a variety of use instances.”
The megabanks started exploring joint stablecoin issuance by a pilot project in late 2025, which aimed to look at whether or not “regulatory and sensible compliance” may very well be carried out “legally and appropriately” when a number of banks collectively situation a stablecoin.
The initiative operates beneath the FSA’s Payment Innovation Projecta specialised program launched to speed up blockchain-based fee improvements inside the present FinTech Proof-of-Idea Hub that has supported fintech experiments since 2017.
Japan clarified its stablecoin rules in 2023, introducing amendments to the Fee Providers Act that created a licensing regime for issuing and distributing fiat-pegged stablecoins. The laws requires that authorised stablecoins can solely be issued by licensed banks, registered cash switch brokers, and belief corporations. The regulatory readability has since enabled a number of yen-backed stablecoin initiatives.
JPYC Inc. announced the launch of the nation’s first legally acknowledged yen-denominated stablecoin, JPYC, in October 2025. SBI Holdings and Startale Group adopted in February 2026, unveiling JPYSCa belief bank-backed yen stablecoin for institutional and cross-border use instances. Most lately, the Japan Blockchain Basis said in Might 2026 it could situation a yen-pegged stablecoin, EJPY, on Japan Open Chain and Ethereum.
The megabanks’ collaborative method follows a wave of institutional stablecoin exercise in Japan since regulatory readability emerged in 2023. In March 2025, USDC became the primary dollar-pegged stablecoin to be authorised in Japan, issued by crypto trade SBI. Months later, Ripple and SBI Holdings announced plans to launch the RLUSD dollar-pegged stablecoin in Japan.
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