Japan's Largest Banks Plan Joint Stablecoin Launch by March 2027
Japan’s three largest banks—MUFG, Mizuho, and SMBC—have formed a council to build the operational framework for a jointly issued stablecoin, aiming for issuance by March 2027 and a joint launch in fiscal 2026. The coin would be issued under a trust arrangement, with the banks as joint settlors and a trust bank or similar institution as trustee. The banks first tested the idea in a late-2025 pilot focused on whether joint issuance could meet regulatory and practical requirements legally and appropriately. The project sits within the FSA’s Payment Innovation Project, which supports blockchain-based payment experiments. Japan’s 2023 stablecoin law clarified licensing rules for fiat-pegged stablecoins, allowing issuance by banks, money transfer agents, and trust companies. That clarity has accelerated yen-backed and dollar-backed stablecoin activity across Japan.
