Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin went live in Japan on Tuesday after receiving approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency, becoming the first foreign-issued stablecoin classified under Japan’s revised Payment Services Act.
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin went live in Japan on Wednesday after receiving approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency, becoming among the first foreign-issued stablecoins classified under Japan’s revised Payment Services Act.
Ripple and SBI Holdings announced the launch on June 24, distributing RLUSD to institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade’s VCTRADE platform. The JFSA classified RLUSD as a new category of electronic payment instrument for foreign-issued stablecoins under Japan’s Payment Services Act, a regulatory designation created specifically for that asset class. “Japan has long been a leader in digital asset adoption, underpinned by both regulatory clarity and financial innovation,” said Jack McDonald, Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Stablecoins, in the press release. RLUSD carries a circulating supply of roughly $1.7 billion since its launch in late 2024, per Ripple.
SBI’s Stablecoin Shelf
SBI Group invested in Ripple in 2016, and the decade-long partnership already underpins SBI Remit’s cross-border remittance corridors on Ripple Payments. RLUSD is the second US dollar stablecoin on SBI VC Trade’s platform alongside USDC. SBI VC Trade also co-launched JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin, the same week as RLUSD. The FSA-registered electronic payment instruments list now shows SBI VC Trade handling USDC, RLUSD, and JPYSC simultaneously, making SBI an access layer for multiple stablecoin issuers regardless of which token wins each use case.
Circle and Nomura’s 2027 Target
Circle and Nomura plan to launch a USDC-based digital asset settlement and corporate payment service in Japan as early as 2027, per Nikkei. The service targets supplier payments, overseas affiliate transfers, and FX settlement, compressing transfers that currently take two to three business days. A Nomura and Laser Digital survey of 518 Japanese investment professionals found 63% saw stablecoin use cases spanning treasury management, cross-border payments, and tokenized securities settlement. Stablecoins issued by major financial institutions received the highest trust ratings.
Megabank Yen Track
Japan’s three largest banks, MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho, plan to jointly issue yen-based stablecoins by the end of Japan’s current fiscal year. The megabank timeline runs in parallel with Circle and Nomura’s 2027 corporate-payments target, placing dollar and yen stablecoin infrastructure on the same buildout schedule. For Japanese firms settling in yen, bank-issued domestic instruments carry a structural FX advantage that positions them as the dominant lane for domestic B2B flows, leaving Ripple’s cross-border and crypto-settlement corridors as the most defensible ground for RLUSD.
