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Startale Group and SBI Holdings have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a totally regulated, yen-denominated stablecoin for international settlement and institutional use, the businesses stated in a press launch Monday.
The mission pairs Startale’s blockchain stack, together with its work on the Soneium community, with SBI’s attain as one in every of Japan’s largest monetary teams, concentrating on a share of a $300 billion stablecoin market nonetheless dominated by dollar-pegged tokens.
Shinsei Belief & Banking will deal with issuance and redemption, with SBI VC Commerce managing circulation as a licensed crypto asset change. Startale leads tech growth, together with good contracts and safety, whereas SBI oversees compliance and institutional distribution.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to belongings like fiat currencies or gold. They underpin a lot of the crypto economic system, serving as fee rails and a device for transferring cash throughout borders.
SBI Holdings Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao known as tokenized belongings and token-based settlement an “irreversible societal trend,” and said in the release that the yen stablecoin is meant to serve as core infrastructure for digital financial services integrated with traditional finance.
The initiative comes under Japan’s new stablecoin rules and the FSA’s Payment Innovation Project, which is already backing a joint yen stablecoin pilot by Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho, and is pitched as a programmable digital yen for cross-border settlement and tokenized RWAs.
The token will sit alongside Startale USD (USDSC), the firm’s institutional-grade dollar stablecoin for Soneium and the Startale App, with USDSC anchoring dollar liquidity and the new yen coin providing the regulated yen leg for FX, settlement and tokenized asset flows.
Launch is targeted for Q2 2026, pending final regulatory approvals.
Read more: Stablecoin Adoption Is ‘Exploding’ — Here is Why Wall Avenue Is Going All-In
