The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan is expected to approve the issuance of a 'Yen Stablecoin' as early as this autumn, marking the first time Japan will allow a digital currency 'pegged to its national legal currency' to emerge, taking a crucial step in the global stablecoin competition.
According to reports from Nikkei, the Tokyo fintech company JPYC Inc. will complete the registration process for 'fund transfer operators' within this month and lead the launch of the first Yen stablecoin.
The stablecoin will maintain a fixed value of '1 Yen = 1 JPYC' and will be backed by highly liquid assets such as bank deposits and Japanese government bonds. Whether corporate or individual, after completing the subscription, JPYC will be directly sent to digital wallets via bank transfer.
The global stablecoin market has surpassed $286 billion, almost monopolized by dollar-pegged USDT and USDC. While dollar stablecoins have long circulated in the Japanese market, this will be the first locally-based stablecoin 'based on the Yen', which is significant for the local financial and digital asset ecosystem.
Okabe, a representative of the JPYC issuing company, recently pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that the influence of the Yen stablecoin is not limited to payment areas but may also bring profound changes to the Japanese government bond market.
He cited that major dollar stablecoin issuers have become large buyers of U.S. government bonds, using them as collateral assets for stablecoin circulation. If JPYC receives widespread adoption, a similar trend may emerge in Japan, increasing market demand for Japanese government bonds. He stated bluntly: 'JPYC is likely to make significant purchases of Japanese government bonds in the future.'
Okabe also pointed out that countries lagging in stablecoin development may face rising pressures on national debt yields, as they miss out on support from new institutional demands. He believes that it is precisely due to considerations of monetary policy that many governments, including Japan, are accelerating the establishment of stablecoin regulations and frameworks.
Circle Takes the Lead to Flag Japan
Notably, Circle was approved in March this year and officially listed USDC on SBI VC Trade. SBI VC Trade is a cryptocurrency exchange operated by a joint venture between the SBI Group and Circle Japan KK.
The FSA officially approved the listing proposal on March 4, which is also the first time Japan allows offshore-issued stablecoins to circulate locally in compliance. Circle also announced at that time that it will expand USDC to major exchanges such as Binance Japan, bitbank, and bitFlyer in the future. The latter two are leading platforms in Japan, with an average daily trading volume exceeding $25 million and monthly visitor numbers surpassing 1.85 million.
"JPYC Takes the Lead! Japan Will Welcome the 'Yen Stablecoin' Soonest This Autumn" This article was first published on Block Tempo.
