Japan-Korea Stablecoin Rail Cuts Dollar Out of Asia's Busiest Trade Corridor

A new joint venture aims to simplify cross-border payments between Japan and South Korea by replacing correspondent banking with a stablecoin-based system.

The Musubi Project, developed by SBI Digital Practice (SBIDP) and NodeInfra, will use the Canton Network's two-phase commit protocol to enable simultaneous settlement of yen and won payments.

This architecture eliminates Herstatt risk, which occurs when one party delivers a payment before the other can receive it, creating exposure for counterparties.

The project targets $75 billion in annual trade between Japan and South Korea, and will leverage Daml smart contracts to ensure sub-transaction privacy.