Japan Tests Yen Stablecoin in First Digital Corporate Bond
Startale Japan has introduced a digital corporate bond that marks a first for the country: it uses JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin, for both interest and principal payments. The stablecoin is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and backed by the underlying technology provided by Startale Group. According to the company, this is the first digital corporate bond in Japan to employ a yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin for such payments as of Sept. 30. However, key details like the bond's size, coupon rate, and maturity date were not disclosed.
The bond is available exclusively to individual and corporate investors in Japan and is not being offered overseas. Instead of traditional payment methods, the bond will distribute JPYSC throughout its lifecycle. JPYSC tracks the Japanese yen 1:1 and is classified as a Type 3 Electronic Payment Instrument under Japan’s Payment Services Act. Startale Group CEO Sota Watanabe described the bond as a pilot project aimed at exploring broader applications of JPYSC in corporate financing.
JPYSC was developed through a collaboration between Japan’s SBI Group and Startale Group. The bond represents a novel use of stablecoins in corporate financing, an area where stablecoin adoption remains less established compared to crypto trading, payments, and remittances. The project aims to test stablecoin settlement within Japan’s regulatory framework before potentially expanding to global markets.
While Startale is pioneering this approach with a yen-based stablecoin, similar structures have been tested elsewhere. For instance, B2C2 issued an onchain corporate bond with PV01 in November 2024, and Société Générale’s SG-FORGE conducted a trial with Swift in January 2026, settling tokenized bonds using its euro stablecoin EURCV. The success of Startale’s pilot could help make onchain settlement more familiar to institutions, but the broader question remains whether investors will prefer receiving coupon payments in tokens over traditional yen.