SBI Holdings & Startale Forge Ahead: Regulated Yen Stablecoin Launch Shakes Up Digital Finance

Japan's financial establishment just placed a major bet on the future of money. In a move that could redefine digital asset adoption, SBI Holdings has partnered with blockchain firm Startale Labs to launch a fully regulated yen-pegged stablecoin.

The Regulatory Green Light

This isn't another speculative crypto experiment. The project operates under Japan's Payment Services Act, securing approval from the Financial Services Agency (FSA). It bypasses the regulatory gray area that plagues many stablecoins, offering institutional-grade compliance from day one.

Building on Proven Rails

The stablecoin will launch on Astar Network, a Polkadot parachain, leveraging its existing infrastructure for speed and interoperability. This strategic choice cuts development time and taps into a growing ecosystem, positioning the yen to flow seamlessly across blockchain borders.

A Bridge for Traditional Finance

The initiative targets a glaring gap in the market: a trustworthy, compliant bridge between Japan's massive traditional finance sector and the decentralized world. It promises to unlock new use cases for settlements, remittances, and DeFi—all with the stability of the yen.

Of course, watching a giant like SBI navigate blockchain regulations is a bit like watching a sumo wrestler perform ballet—impressive if they pull it off, but you can't help wondering if they'd rather just be doing what they know. This launch could either be the masterstroke that legitimizes digital yen for the masses or a very expensive compliance exercise. Either way, the game just changed.

SBI Holdings and Startale Group have agreed to develop a regulated Japanese yen stablecoin aimed at providing an alternative to dollar-denominated digital currencies in global trade and settlement.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to create the stablecoin under Japan's recently established regulatory framework, with a planned launch in the second quarter of 2026, according to an announcement on Monday.

Startale, which operates Japan's Astar Network and co-develops Soneium with Sony Block Solutions Labs, will lead technology development including smart contract architecture and security systems. SBI will manage regulatory compliance and institutional distribution channels.

The partnership builds on previous collaboration between the companies on tokenized equities and plans for a round-the-clock digital asset exchange. The two firms are positioning their dual-currency approach as creating an interoperable framework connecting regulated yen stablecoins with broader blockchain ecosystems.

Shinsei Trust & Banking, a subsidiary of SBI Shinsei Bank, will manage issuance and redemption operations. SBI VC Trade, which holds a crypto Asset Exchange Service Provider license, will handle circulation of the digital currency.

Yoshitaka Kitao, chairman and president of SBI Holdings, described the shift toward a token economy as an irreversible trend and said the yen stablecoin WOULD accelerate the integration of digital financial services with traditional finance. The project aims to offer a yen option in a stablecoin market that now exceeds $300 billion in circulation and processes trillions in annual transactions, predominantly in U.S. dollar assets.

The initiative follows Japan's Financial Services Agency establishing the Payment Innovation Project, a regulatory sandbox for blockchain payments. The FSA recently approved a pilot by Japan's three largest banks – Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, and Mizuho – as the sandbox's first test case.

Startale CEO Sota Watanabe said the yen stablecoin will serve beyond everyday payments, positioning it as infrastructure for AI agent transactions and tokenized asset distributions. He described the collaboration as an effort to make Japan central to blockchain adoption globally.

The stablecoin complements Startale's recently launched Startale USD, an institutional-grade dollar-pegged token designed as the default currency for the Soneium blockchain and Startale App. While Startale USD anchors dollar liquidity within applications, the regulated yen stablecoin targets institutional settlement, foreign exchange, and tokenized real-world asset flows.