USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, is now available to a limited user base on Japanese financial giant SBI’s VC Trade platform in a beta release. SBI says it will provide users with “access to digital US dollars” and promote “development of the digital economy.”
As reported by Cryptopolitan on March 4, Japan’s online financial giant SBI is rolling out support for the popular dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC. As of Wednesday, March 12 (JST) USDC is now live on the company’s SBI VC Trade platform in a limited, beta release.
The platform’s CEO Tomohiko Kondo stated on X (translated): “The beta version of USDC was released on SBIVC from 3pm today.”
Access to digital USD at a time when the Japanese yen is struggling to keep up with other fiat currencies globally could be an incentive for customers. The Japanese government has been stifling unregulated use of cryptocurrencies in recent years, aiming to make the mainstream, custodial market for digital assets friendly to compliant parties, and smaller businesses who fall under registered exchange supervision. As noted by our previous report, The financial giant also enjoys a partnership with XRP and Ripple.
In their announcement about USDC going live, the company emphasized (translated): “Through the handling of USDC, we will provide customers with access to digital US dollars and promote efficient and cost-effective electronic payment methods in line with the development of the digital economy.”
USDC is the second largest stablecoin by market cap, and the first to be approved from a regulatory standpoint for issue in Japan, via SBI’s license with the Asian state’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA). The company’s announcement concludes: “We will continue to strive to start handling USDC on a full scale as soon as possible, so we appreciate your continued patronage of SBI VC Trade.”
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