SBI Pushes Yen Stablecoins onto Cross-Border Rails as Japan Eyes Wallet Refunds

Yen stablecoins stretched in two directions this week: SBI is testing them for Korea-Japan retail and trade settlement while exploring onchain yen-dollar convertibility, and the Japanese government is weighing stablecoin-based tax refunds and subsidies, a potential G7 first for public-sector stablecoin payments.

During the week of October 16-22, yen stablecoins moved outward from “domestic payment instruments” on several fronts. SBI Group signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Shinhan Card to test a yen stablecoin for in-store payments and cross-border trade settlement between Japan and Korea. In the same week, SBI Holdings and Startale joined the Open Standard alliance to explore interoperability between JPYSC, the yen trust-type stablecoin, and OUSD, a dollar stablecoin designed for settlement. Two days earlier, a government-led onchain finance forum in Japan put stablecoins on the agenda for public subsidies and refunds, and the transport minister said the government would consider using stablecoins for consumption tax refunds to foreign tourists.

The three threads point to one conclusion: yen stablecoins are moving toward cross-border settlement rails and public payment infrastructure at the same time, with SBI playing both issuer and distributor, making it the most active Japanese financial institution in this positioning game.

1. SBI x Shinhan Card: Yen Stablecoins Enter Japan-Korea Retail and Trade for the First Time

Shinhan Card, one of South Korea’s largest card issuers, signed an MOU with SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC for a dual-track pilot. The first track tests whether a yen stablecoin can replace or complement card payments at physical stores; the second tests whether the same instrument can settle cross-border trade obligations between Japanese and Korean businesses. The announcement disclosed no launch date, participating merchants, or technical details of the settlement mechanism, leaving it at proof-of-concept stage.

The retail track is about distribution. Shinhan Card brings the merchant acquiring network and card issuance infrastructure; SBI VC Trade contributes the crypto exchange and custody capabilities it has run since 2018; SBI XDC Network APAC brings the enterprise-focused Layer 1 XDC Network, positioned for trade finance. Japan’s Payment Services Act, revised in June 2023, only allows licensed banks, trust companies, and fund transfer service providers to issue yen-pegged stablecoins, so the pilot would likely use a Japanese licensed issuer’s stablecoin distributed through Shinhan Card’s merchant network.

The trade settlement track hits a structural pain point. Japan-Korea cross-border payments currently run through correspondent banking, which is costly and slow. If a yen stablecoin can compress settlement to near-real-time, the significance goes far beyond tourist payments. But the MOU does not specify trade corridors, invoice sizes, or counterparties, and the technical architecture remains unspecified.

2. JPYSC x OUSD: An Onchain Yen-Dollar Conversion Gate

On October 16, SBI Holdings and Startale announced they had joined Open Standard, an alliance of more than 140 companies including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock and Coinbase. The two firms will explore interoperability between JPYSC and Open USD (OUSD). JPYSC is a yen trust-type stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, launched June 24, 2026, initially for SBI VC Trade customers; OUSD is a dollar stablecoin designed for settlement, publicly launched on Solana in June with fee-free issuance and redemption.

SBI Holdings Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao defines yen-dollar stablecoin convertibility as the core of the “SBI APAC Digital Economic Zone”: cross-border, cross-currency transactions will become the mainstream form of onchain finance, and yen assets need a direct channel to global onchain markets. SBI was the first company in Japan to offer USDC and RLUSD, and if JPYSC-OUSD interoperability lands, it would provide an onchain path for yen-dollar settlement independent of traditional foreign exchange channels.

In July, SBI Global Asset Management, DigiFT Tech and Startale completed a proof of concept for settling and distributing tokenized securities, and a corporate bond has already paid interest and principal in JPYSC. The JPYSC path is clear: issuance, limited distribution, financial instrument applications, then cross-currency connectivity.

3. Government Entry: A 24/7 Pipe for Refunds and Subsidies

On October 20, Japan’s onchain finance forum, led by the Financial Services Agency, Digital Agency, Ministry of Finance, Bank of Japan and the Japanese Bankers Association, discussed stablecoins and tokenized deposits in public payments, with a public-private roadmap planned for early 2027. On October 21, Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tatsunori Ibayashi told a parliamentary committee the government would consider using stablecoins to refund consumption tax to foreign visitors.

The backdrop is an imminent institutional change: from November 1, Japan’s duty-free shopping switches to a pay-first, refund-later model, with tourists paying tax at checkout and receiving a refund after customs confirms the goods leave the country. Sending refunds directly to digital wallets, available around the clock, is precisely where stablecoins beat banking-hours settlement rails. In March, JPYC had already partnered with a Japanese duty-free operator on this use case; the government’s statement gives the private sector a clear policy signal.

If formalized, Japan would be the first G7 economy to deploy stablecoin infrastructure for domestic public-sector payments. Global stablecoin market cap is about $301 billion, roughly $299 billion dollar-pegged; yen stablecoins total only about $156 million, 82% of it JPYSC. A government use case would change that base entirely.

4. Deep Dive: Yen Stablecoins in a Three-Layer Game

5. Conclusion: The Positioning Logic of Yen Stablecoins

This week’s yen stablecoin moves are two sides of the same thing: SBI is connecting yen stablecoins to cross-border settlement rails, and the government is connecting them to public payment infrastructure. The first solves how yen assets talk to global onchain markets; the second solves how a state treats stablecoins as payment infrastructure. Where the two lines converge, yen stablecoins gain three growth engines from a $156 million base: a cross-border corridor, onchain conversion, and a sovereign use case.

For practitioners, three timings are worth tracking: whether the Shinhan Card pilot discloses a concrete technical architecture, whether the OUSD link moves from exploration to implementation, and how the early-2027 roadmap defines stablecoins’ place in public payments. Yen stablecoins remain far behind dollar stablecoins in scale, but Japan is expanding the onchain finance foundation from a single dollar currency to multiple currencies through regulatory compliance, bank backing and real use cases.