Japan's SBI Group Launches First FSA-Approved Yen Stablecoin JPYSC

SBI Group and Startale Group launched JPYSC on June 24, 2026, marking Japan’s first yen-pegged stablecoin issued under the trust bank model with full Financial Services Agency (FSA) approval.

JPYSC is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and distributed through SBI VC Trade, the group’s crypto exchange. The token maintains a 1:1 peg to the Japanese yen, with reserves held in segregated accounts. Token holders receive statutory trust beneficiary rights under Japan’s Trust Act, protecting their holdings from the issuer’s balance sheet.

Reserves can include deposits and up to 50% in Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs), creating a potential yield channel unavailable to earlier prepaid stablecoin models.

JPYSC is classified as a Type III Electronic Payment Instrument under Japan’s amended Payment Services Act. This classification carries no daily or remittance caps, unlike the Type II prepaid model used by competing yen stablecoin JPYC, which faces a 1 million yen daily limit.

Japan became the first G7 country to pass comprehensive stablecoin legislation through its 2022 Payment Services Act and Banking Act amendments. JPYSC is the first token to use the trust-bank framework created by those laws.

SBI Holdings and Startale signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2025. By February 2026, Startale unveiled Strium L1, an institutional blockchain expected to serve as JPYSC’s primary settlement layer. In March, Startale closed a $63 million Series A, with SBI leading at $50 million and Sony contributing $13 million.

SBI VC Trade began distributing Ripple’s RLUSD in March 2026, validating the distribution infrastructure before JPYSC went live.

JPYSC targets institutional and enterprise use cases, including corporate treasury management, high-volume settlements, cross-border payments, tokenized real-world asset issuance, and on-chain dividend distribution.

Initial availability is limited to SBI VC Trade accounts. Broader on-chain circulation depends on tax treatment clarity and public blockchain migration, likely to Strium L1 with potential multi-chain support including Soneium, co-developed with Sony.

Competition is emerging. A consortium of Japanese megabanks including MUFG, Mizuho, and SMBC is building a yen stablecoin through the Progmat platform, targeting interbank live deployment by March 2027.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/japans-sbi-group-flips-the-stablecoin-script-with-63m-backed-jpysc-launch/