On February 27, 2026, SBI Holdings and Startale Group jointly announced the launch of the yen-pegged token JPYSC based on a trust structure, endorsed by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, and plans for its official launch in the second quarter of 2026 (subject to regulatory approval). This is Japan's first yen on-chain token backed by a trust bank, marking a significant milestone following the establishment of the compliance framework by the 2023 "Stablecoin Bill": connecting a highly prudent Japanese financial trust system with the fast-evolving, composable world of crypto assets. With the introduction of JPYSC, traditional financial trust frameworks and on-chain finance are beginning to undergo structural coupling, reshaping not only corporate fund management and cross-border settlements but also Japan's position in the global compliant token race.
From Bill to Implementation: The Path of Japan's Compliant Yen Token
● Regulatory Foundation: In 2023, Japan passed a revised law commonly referred to as the "Stablecoin Bill," which delineates clear compliance boundaries for yen-pegged tokens, specifying that only banks, money transfer operators, trust companies, and other specific entities are allowed to issue tokens linked to legal tender. This framework imposes strict requirements on reserve management, redemption obligations, information disclosure, and aims to prevent systemic risks while reserving development space for "regulated on-chain yen."
● The Role of Trust Banks: Under this institutional design, trust banks naturally become important vehicles for yen-pegged tokens, responsible for independent management of physical funds and trust properties, while also offering a legally clear asset segregation mechanism. The trust structure allows holders of on-chain tokens to indirectly enjoy protection of underlying assets through trust contracts, which fundamentally differs from models that solely rely on the credit of issuing companies, aligning with Japan's long-term regulatory vision for investor protection.
● Timeline and Uncertainty: According to current disclosed information, JPYSC is planned to be officially launched in the second quarter of 2026 (April – June), but it is explicitly stated that "regulatory approval is still required." This means that despite forward-looking timelines, the specific launch rhythm will still be subject to approval processes and detailed rules; any additional compliance requirements, technical reviews, or market tests may impact the final release date, making the timeline more of a roadmap than a hard commitment.
● Expectations vs. Reality: Since the establishment of the compliance framework in 2023, market expectations for "compliant yen tokens" have rapidly heated up, leading to predictions that various yen-pegged solutions would emerge in a short time. However, the actual rollout pace has been noticeably slower than the sentiment pricing: it wasn't until February 2026 that the first trust bank-backed project made its public debut. This interval reflects the interaction path between Japan’s policies and industries—regulators first outline boundaries, then large financial groups pilot within controlled risks, and after forming demonstrative examples, consider expansions.
Trust Bank Bottom Line: The Narrative of JPYSC's Security
● Legal and Asset Isolation Advantages: As the trust entity behind JPYSC, SBI Shinsei Trust Bank possesses comprehensive legal identity and business qualifications in Japan's trust sector. The trust structure means that the underlying yen funds held in custody are clearly classified as trust property, strictly segregated from the bank's own assets; in the event of operational risks for the issuer or associated entities, trust property is legally prioritized to satisfy beneficiary rights, providing a "bankruptcy isolation" safety net for the on-chain tokens.
● Trust Premium: The market refers to JPYSC as "Japan's first yen token backed by a trust bank," which itself is a signal of compliance and risk control. In Japan's environment where regulatory compliance and financial stability are highly valued, the backing by a licensed trust bank combined with SBI Group's brand trust makes it easier to gain the confidence of institutional, corporate finance, and compliance departments compared to solutions led by foreign entities or single tech companies, creating a significant trust premium.
● Attractiveness to Institutional Funds: The trust structure is particularly crucial for enterprise-level funds and institutional investors. On one hand, trust contracts and periodic reports can enhance the auditability of assets and the traceability of funds, facilitating the integration of internal risk control and external audits for businesses; on the other hand, the trust model can better match enterprises' needs for tiered management of fund security, such as placing operating funds, margin, and settlement funds into different trust pools, maintaining clarity and control of traditional accounts while settling on-chain.
● Comparison with Traditional Centralized Models: Traditional centralized fiat-pegged tokens are often criticized for inadequate reserve transparency, uneven audit frequencies, and standards; doubts persist about "whether there are truly one-to-one reserves." Under the trust system model, reserve funds are incorporated into the trust system, theoretically subjecting them to higher standards of financial regulation and audit arrangements, creating a trust structure that is entirely different from previous self-disclosures by issuers, thus forming differentiated competitiveness.
SBI and Startale: From Financial Group to On-chain Infrastructure
● SBI's Bellwether Position: SBI Holdings is a significant domestic financial group in Japan, deeply involved in sectors such as securities, banking, and insurance, and entered the crypto and blockchain arena early. Its rich experience in digital asset trading, custody, and collaboration with leading overseas projects sends a strong signal to the market when SBI chooses to invest in on-chain yen and publicly launches JPYSC: "mainstream finance is beginning to view on-chain settlements as part of its long-term strategy," making it a typical bellwether.
● Startale's Infrastructure Role: Startale Group leans more toward the technical domain of public chains and Web3 infrastructure, focusing on creating on-chain environments for developers and enterprises, including collaboration with mainstream public chains and tools layer development. Compared to SBI's financial licenses and capital strength, Startale's capabilities in technological implementation and ecosystem operation are complementary, with one side providing traditional financial resources and compliance paths, while the other side supplies the technical base for on-chain deployment and application scenarios.
● Functional Division within the Group: In the JPYSC system, SBI Shinsei Trust Bank plays a core role in trust custody and legal framework, responsible for ensuring the safety and regulatory connection of underlying yen assets; SBI VC Trade is expected to play a role on the trading and liquidity organization side, providing compliant buying, selling, exchanging, and OTC matching channels for JPYSC. Through this internal collaboration, SBI seeks to bring custody, issuance, trading, and other stages under the same group’s control, reducing compliance communication costs and creating a closed-loop link from off-chain funds to on-chain tokens.
● Strategic Layout of On-chain Yen: From a more macro perspective, SBI's bet on on-chain yen is not just about issuing a token, but attempting to build an ecological closed loop around JPYSC for enterprise-level and cross-border settlements: enterprises can complete fiat deposits within the group, acquire JPYSC, complete settlements and payments on-chain, and then convert back to yen or other assets through compliant channels. If this system takes shape, it will migrate part of the transaction volume of traditional payment networks to on-chain, while leaving room for future interconnections with financial institutions in other regions.
Enterprise-Level and Cross-Border Scenarios: Real Use Cases for the Yen Token
● Target Customer Base Aimed at Enterprises and Cross-Border: According to public statements, "JPYSC will primarily serve enterprise-level users and cross-border payment scenarios," which means its design intent is not aimed at high-frequency retail payments, but rather focuses on corporate finance, cross-border settlements, and inter-institutional fund transfers with medium to high-value transactions. For these types of users, compliance, audit convenience, and settlement efficiency are often more crucial than mere fee costs and are core factors in assessing whether to adopt new tools.
● Foreign Trade and Regional Settlement Efficiency: Japanese companies often need to conduct frequent settlements among multiple currencies in foreign trade, especially within the East Asian regional supply chain. If on-chain yen can provide near-real-time cross-border arrival speeds and reduce intermediary and corresponding institutions through intelligent processes, it will significantly compress time costs and remittance fees. In regional supply chain finance scenarios, enterprises can leverage on-chain yen for accounts receivable pledges, early repayments, etc., thereby optimizing cash flow management.
● Potential Advantages and Challenges in Accounting and Compliance Processing: For institutional tokens, on-chain transaction records inherently possess traceability, aiding in automation of accounting, audit sampling, and compliance reporting, such as anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) reports can partially utilize on-chain data generation. However, for these advantages to truly land, regulatory authorities need to clarify the legal effectiveness of on-chain records in taxation, accounting, and forex management; how to align with existing reporting frameworks and how to define the nature of cross-border fund flows are regulatory challenges that need to be gradually reconciled.
● Competitive and Cooperative Landscape in the Asia-Pacific Payment Network: In the broader Asia-Pacific region, if JPYSC wants to secure a place in cross-border payment networks, it will inevitably form a complex competitive and cooperative relationship with other mainstream tokens. On one hand, it could serve as a settlement tool for yen-denominated trade within the region, complementing other tokens mainly based on US dollars; on the other hand, against the backdrop of differing exchange rate fluctuations, liquidity depths, and compliance requirements, competition among various tokens will revolve around liquidity pools, clearing networks, and cooperative banking resources, ultimately determined by the market and regulators in terms of respective roles and weights.
Regulatory Red Lines and Unknowns: Approvals, Quotas, and Technical Gaps
● Boundaries of Information Disclosure: So far, related parties have not disclosed the regulatory approval process, specific approval nodes, or the future issuance scale of JPYSC, leaving the outside unable to make definitive judgments on approval progress or the volume of funds involved. In this state of information, any conclusive statements regarding "earlier or later launch times" or "initial issuance amounts" lack basis and can only be prudently described as "subject to regulatory approval" and "planned for launch in the second quarter of 2026."
● Unverified Compliance Attributes: Whether JPYSC will be deemed by regulatory authorities as a trust-based third-class electronic payment method is currently not confirmed, and this assessment will directly impact the scene boundaries and applicable regulations it can reach. For instance, applicable regulatory rules and quota restrictions may vary widely across different scenarios such as consumer payments, salary disbursements, and cross-border remittances; thus, until official definitions are clarified, it can only be viewed as an attempt within the compliance framework, rather than a completed payment tool.
● The Impact of Approvals and Quotas on Penetration: Future regulatory departments may impose different levels of restrictions on issuance quotas, holder types, use case ranges during the approval process, such as limiting access only to specific enterprises or financial institutions, or setting upper limits on single transactions or total daily turnover. These variables will directly determine the penetration speed and depth of JPYSC in enterprise and cross-border payments: the tighter the restrictions, the stronger the demonstration but with controlled scale; the broader the restrictions, the larger the expansion potential, but regulatory pressure will also increase.
● Uncertainty Due to Lack of Technical Details: Currently, key information such as JPYSC's underlying technical architecture, chain selection, and integration methods with existing decentralized financial protocols has not been made public. Without these details, it is difficult to assess its potential for composability, cross-chain interoperability, and DeFi integration; it is also impossible to determine whether it leans toward a closed enterprise alliance network or an infrastructure with open financial attributes, with the technical aspects viewed as a gap yet to be filled.
The Starting Point for Yen On-Chaining: Opportunities and Challenges Coexist
● Symbolic Significance of Financial Integration: As Japan's first trust-based yen token, JPYSC connects the long-accumulated trust financial system of Japan with the emerging on-chain finance, symbolically marking the trial operation of a threefold structure of "bank–trust–on-chain." It is not only a new asset symbol but also a systematic sample of joint exploration by Japanese regulators, traditional finance, and the crypto industry, providing reference coordinates for more compliant tokens in the future.
● First-Mover Advantage and Potential Moats: Relying on the legal and asset security foundation provided by the trust structure, along with SBI Group's brand influence and extensive corporate client resources, and a clear focus on enterprise-level and cross-border scenarios, JPYSC possesses a significant first-mover advantage both within Japan and regionally. It has the opportunity to build a moat that is difficult to replicate simply through the combination of "trust + license + enterprise scenarios," especially in the B-end market where deep regulatory coordination is necessary.
● Key Variables from Demonstration Project to Infrastructure: However, whether JPYSC can grow from a "demonstration coin" to a true financial infrastructure still depends on several key variables: the rhythm and openness of regulatory approvals, potentially disclosed issuance scale and growth paths, and the actual willingness of enterprises and financial institutions to use it. If it remains long-term in a small-scale pilot after launch, its symbolic significance will outweigh its actual impact; only when liquidity and breadth of scenarios expand in sync can it become a main channel for on-chain yen.
● Japan's Window in the Global Competition: Globally, the competition around compliant fiat-pegged tokens is heating up as regulatory authorities and large financial institutions worldwide are entering the fray. Whether yen on-chaining can leverage SBI's execution capabilities and Japan's policy window to secure a foothold will depend on its ability to find a balance between regulatory robustness and scenario innovation. JPYSC provides Japan with a lever to enter the global network of compliant tokens; in the coming years, its development path will become an important bellwether for observing the effectiveness of Japan's digital financial strategy.
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