Japan’s stablecoin push gains pace as issuers commit to full rollout

Japan Blockchain Foundation has formally approved plans to issue EJPY, a trust-type yen stablecoin. It will be the fourth stablecoin project launched in six months.

Prior to this announcement, the projects for the JPYC, JPYSC stablecoins were already underway. Japan’s three largest banks, Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, and Mizuho, have also revealed that they were building a stablecoin with their joint effort in late 2025. 

What is EJPY? 

EJPY will be a yen-pegged stablecoin issued under Japan’s Type III electronic payment instrument classification, a trust-based framework that carries significant advantages over other stablecoin categories. 

It will initially launch on Japan Open Chain (JOC), an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain run by a consortium of 14 Japanese corporate validators including NTT Communications, Dentsu, and Nethermind. 

Ethereum support is also planned from the start. The foundation said it is targeting circulation on JOC within the 2026 fiscal year, which ends in March 2027. 

EJPY is designed for business-to-business payments, remittances, digital asset settlements, and Web3 services. The foundation has stated that it expects the token “to generate transactions based on real demand.” 

The foundation has started holding discussions with potential trustee businesses regarding things like issuance, redemption, trust asset management, system design, and legal compliance, but launch dates and distribution partners are still subject to regulatory approvals.

Hiroaki Inaba, the CEO of Japan Blockchain Foundation, said the company has been developing Japan Open Chain as a blockchain platform Japanese enterprises can use with confidence. 

Why does the EJPY’s trust structure matter? 

Under Japan’s payment services laws, Type I electronic payment instruments face a per-transaction cap of 1 million yen, which is approximately $6,700. Trust-type stablecoins classified as Type III instruments are exempt from this ceiling. This exemption is what makes the EJPY token the best fit for corporate settlements, institutional transfers, and high-value business payments. 

The foundation acts as the settlor while trust assets are managed separately by licensed trustee businesses, ensuring the full separation of customer funds from issuer assets.

SBI Holdings and Startale Group are pursuing the same legal pathway with their JPYSC stablecoin, which is being issued by Shinsei Trust & Banking, an SBI subsidiary. That project remains on track for launch in the second quarter of 2026, according to a February announcement. 

JPYC, which launched in October 2025 as Japan’s first licensed yen stablecoin, operates under the more restrictive Type II funds transfer framework. Cryptopolitan reported that JPYC has issued over 1 billion yen, about $6.3 million, in tokens since its launch and aims to reach 1 trillion yen, $6.6 billion, in three years 

Meanwhile, Japan’s three megabanks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NYSE: MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE: SMFG), and Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE: MFG), have been working on their own joint yen stablecoin since at least October 2025, according to Cryptopolitan’s earlier reporting. 

The three banks serve more than 300,000 corporate clients combined. They launched a proof-of-concept in March 2026, testing both yen-pegged and dollar-pegged stablecoins on the Progmat infrastructure. The Financial Services Agency granted the project “Payment Innovation Project” status.