SBI Holdings launches JPYSC yen stablecoin, bypassing JPYC's ¥1M daily cap

SBI Holdings and Startale Group launched JPYSC, Japan's first trust-bank-backed yen stablecoin on Ethereum, positioning the country as a serious contender in global onchain settlements.

SBI Holdings and Startale Group launched JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin on Ethereum issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, making it the first trust-type stablecoin under Japan's amended Payment Services Act. The token is available to customers of SBI VC Trade as of June 24, with public blockchain transfers pending final regulatory approvals.

"The transition of financial functions to on-chain is irreversibly progressing, creating payment methods that can be used on-chain is an issue that must be resolved as quickly as possible," Yoshitaka Kitao, chairman and chief executive officer of SBI Holdings, said in a statement. Kitao added that the launch places SBI "at the starting line against fierce global competitors."

JPYSC removes the ¥1 million daily transaction cap that limited JPYC, Japan's most prominent retail yen stablecoin, to consumer use cases. The trust-bank structure gives token holders statutory claims against segregated reserves — a legal protection retail-focused tokens cannot offer. SBI VC Trade handles distribution, while Startale Group, the blockchain firm co-founded by Sota Watanabe, manages technical development. FSA approval is expected around late June 2026, per Nikkei reporting, with public blockchain transfers to begin once legal and tax clarifications are granted.

Japan enacted stablecoin legislation in 2022, giving it a four-year head start on regulatory clarity versus most Western jurisdictions. JPYSC is the first major product to fully leverage that framework at the institutional tier, targeting cross-border settlements between Japanese exporters and Asian counterparties that currently run through slow correspondent banking networks. Tokenized Japanese government bonds, real estate and corporate debt all require a stable onchain unit of account denominated in yen — a gap JPYSC is designed to fill.

Potential applications include foreign exchange liquidity pools, settlement of tokenized real-world assets and institutional lending markets, according to the companies. SBI Holdings also has backing from Circle, the issuer of USDC, after a recent partnership, while its ties to Ripple through the SBI Ripple Asia joint venture give it dual access to both the USDC ecosystem and Ripple's cross-border payment network.

The launch intensifies competition in Japan's stablecoin market. JPYC, the first yen-backed stablecoin, has a first-mover advantage in retail payments but faces structural limits from its ¥1M daily cap. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has run its own Progmat Coin initiative, and other Japanese megabanks have explored similar territory. SBI moving first with a trust bank-backed product under the amended Payment Services Act raises the stakes for competitors.

Globally, the stablecoin market has expanded rapidly. Total stablecoin supply sits near $321 billion, with Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC accounting for more than 80% of it, according to DefiLlama. Business-to-business stablecoin flows grew more than 700% to over $3 billion a month by the end of 2025, data compiled by Reap shows. MoneyGram launched its own MGUSD coin in June through Stripe's Bridge, while Mastercard agreed to buy the stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for as much as $1.8 billion.

For SBI, the bet is that owning the yen-denominated unit moving through the system beats renting someone else's. "It's just a completely different game," Anton Lobintsev of SquareFi said on the On The Margin podcast, referring to the broader trend of companies issuing their own stablecoins.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.