A stablecoinA token designed to hold a steady value against a currency, usually by being redeemable one-for-one for that currency. is not something you buy hoping it goes up. It is money that lives on a blockchain: 1 JPYC is meant to be worth ¥1 today, next week and when you hand it back. That makes it useful for online payments, wallet-to-wallet transfers and automated settlement, without the price swings of bitcoin. Dollar stablecoins such as USDC and USDT have done this job globally for years. Japan only got a fully licensed yen version in October 2025.
What makes Japan different is that the legal framework came first. A 2023 amendment to the Payment Services Act created a separate category, the electronic payment instrumentDenshi kessai shudan (電子決済手段): Japan's legal term for fiat-denominated stablecoins. It is a different category from crypto assets, with its own issuer and dealer rules., distinct from crypto assets like bitcoin. Only banks, registered funds transfer businesses and trust companies may issue one, and anyone selling them to the public must register with the Financial Services Agency (FSA). If you are used to the wild west of offshore stablecoins, this is a tightly fenced garden.
What is JPYC?
JPYC is issued by JPYC Inc., a Tokyo company that registered as a funds transfer businessA non-bank remittance licence under the Payment Services Act. The category JPYC Inc. holds caps each transfer at ¥1 million. on August 18, 2025 (Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00099). It began issuing JPYC as an electronic payment instrument at 1 p.m. on October 27, 2025, the first yen stablecoin from a funds transfer business in Japan. You pay in yen and receive the same amount of JPYC; you send JPYC back and receive the same amount of yen. That hand-back is called redemptionReturning a stablecoin to its issuer for the same amount of fiat money. A reliable one-for-one redemption is what keeps the price stable..
According to its launch announcement, JPYC Inc. holds at least 100% of the outstanding balance in yen bank deposits and Japanese government bonds. JPYC runs on four blockchains: Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche and, since a May 2026 update, Kaia. Growth has been steep. Cumulative issuance was around ¥1 billion in February 2026, ¥3 billion by May 30 (with 19,000 JPYC EX accounts) and more than ¥10 billion by September 18, 2026. Note that "cumulative issuance" counts everything ever minted, not the amount in circulation today. The company's stated ambition is an outstanding balance on the scale of ¥10 trillion within three years of launch.
There was an older JPYC. From 2021 the company sold JPYC Prepaid, a prepaid payment instrument closer to a gift card than to money. New issuance of JPYC Prepaid ended on June 1, 2025. At the time, existing balances remained usable for payments and transfers, but cash redemption was not planned. If you read a blog post about JPYC from before October 2025, it is almost certainly about the prepaid version.
How Japan regulates yen stablecoins
Who issues a stablecoin decides its limits. The table below sets out the main types active in Japan today.
| Type | Issuer | Example | Amount limit | Backing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds transfer type | JPYC Inc. | JPYC | ¥1m per transaction | Yen deposits and JGBs |
| Trust type | SBI Shinsei Trust Bank | JPYSC | None | Trust assets, partly in short-term JGBs |
| Trust type (pilot) | Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, for three megabanks | Joint megabank coin | Designed with no circulation cap | Bank deposits |
| Foreign-issued | Circle, Ripple | USDC, RLUSD | Set by each dealer | Issuer reserves |
An amendment that took effect on June 1, 2026 lets trust-type issuers invest up to 50% of their backing in Japanese government bonds maturing within three months, or in term deposits. Before that, the money essentially had to sit in demand deposits. Selling or brokering stablecoins requires registration as an electronic payment instrument dealer, and the FSA register lists exactly two: SBI VC Trade (registered March 4, 2025; USDC, RLUSD and JPYSC) and Coincheck (registered August 27, 2026; USDC). For the wider picture of crypto law, see is crypto legal in Japan.
How to get JPYC as a Japan resident
JPYC is not a crypto asset, so you will not find it on the dealer desk of bitFlyer or Coincheck. Neither registered stablecoin dealer lists it either. The standard route is to mint it on JPYC Inc.'s own platform, JPYC EX. Based on the company's launch announcement and later updates, the flow looks like this.
Set up a self-custody wallet
JPYC is delivered to a walletAn app or device that stores the keys controlling your coins. With self-custody, losing the recovery phrase means losing the funds. you control. Choose the chain (Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche or Kaia) and a wallet that supports it. HashPort Wallet, the successor to the Expo 2025 wallet, links directly to JPYC EX.
Register and verify with a My Number card
JPYC EX verifies identity under Japan's anti-money-laundering law and has standardised on the My Number card's digital certificate (JPKI), read by your phone. You also register your receiving wallet address and the Japanese bank account that will receive redemptions.
Reserve an issuance and wire yen
Book an issuance on JPYC EX, then transfer yen to the designated account. When the money lands, the same amount of JPYC arrives at your registered address. Since a May 2026 rule change the cap is ¥1 million per issuance, and back-to-back requests in quick succession are blocked.
Redeem by reservation
Book a redemption, then send JPYC from a registered address. Yen goes to your registered bank account. JPYC sent from an unregistered address, or one belonging to someone else, is not processed.
We could not confirm minimum amounts or fees from the official materials we reviewed, so check the JPYC website before you start. Remember that moving JPYC on-chain also costs gas feesThe network fee paid to process a blockchain transaction, in the chain's own coin (ETH on Ethereum, POL on Polygon and so on)., paid in that chain's native coin, which you need to hold separately.
Two shortcuts exist. In the au PAY app, the αU wallet converts up to 300 Ponta points a month into JPYC, and JPYC can be topped up into your au PAY balance for spending at au PAY merchants. JPYC Inc. also says JPYC can now be used inside LINE through a service called Unifi. Both still assume you are a verified resident. The app landscape is covered in crypto inside Japanese apps.
Tourists and short-term visitors
JPYC onboarding relies on a My Number card and a Japanese bank account, which short-term visitors do not have. If you are only visiting, JPYC is not a practical option. Our crypto guide for foreigners covers what different visa holders can and cannot open.
SBI's JPYSC: the trust-type yen coin without the ¥1m cap
JPYSC is the first trust-type yen stablecoin in Japan, legally a "Type 3 electronic payment instrument". SBI Shinsei Trust Bank issues it and manages the backing trust assets, while SBI VC Trade acts as the entrusting party and the dealer that sells it. Startale, an SBI Holdings equity-method affiliate, co-developed it. It launched on June 24, 2026, initially inside SBI VC Trade accounts only.
By September 7, 2026, about ¥20.1 billion of JPYSC was outstanding, roughly ¥27 billion including JPYSC lent out through SBI VC Trade's lending service. ¥1 billion of the backing now sits in short-term government bonds under the June 2026 rules. To get it, open an SBI VC Trade account, deposit yen by quick deposit (free) and buy on the dealer desk. SBI VC Trade's page says the price is fixed at ¥1 with no spread, orders run from 1 to 100 million JPYSC, and there is no holding cap. The catches: you cannot withdraw JPYSC to an outside wallet yet, and you cannot use it to buy crypto. Public-chain circulation, starting with Ethereum, is planned once legal and tax questions are settled. More on the exchange in our SBI VC Trade review.
SBI VC Trade also offers JPYSC lending at a projected 1–3% a year. Its own page warns that lent JPYSC falls outside the Payment Services Act's segregation rules and might not be returned in full if the company failed, and that lending is not a deposit and not covered by deposit insurance.
Buying USDC in Japan
If part of your income or savings is in dollars, USDC is the stablecoin you are more likely to want. SBI VC Trade began handling USDC in March 2025 as Japan's first registered stablecoin dealer and later added Ripple's RLUSD, for which it sets per-order and per-withdrawal caps of ¥1 million equivalent. Coincheck was registered on August 27, 2026 with USDC as its listed instrument, but we could not confirm when or how it will offer USDC trading to customers; check Coincheck's announcements and our Coincheck review.
Keep the currency in mind. USDC is stable against the dollar, not the yen. If your rent and bills are in yen, a dollar stablecoin carries exchange-rate risk just like a dollar bank balance.
The megabank stablecoin: when will it arrive?
MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ran a joint issuance trial from July 17 to 23, 2026, with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking as trustee and TISI building the system. The coin was issued as a "specified trust beneficiary right" under the Payment Services Act and tested on cross-border payments between Mitsubishi Corporation's offices in Japan and abroad. The project had been selected for the FSA's payment innovation programme in November 2025.
Results published on October 16, 2026 say the system's safety and the joint-issuance model were confirmed. The intended design has no circulation cap, keeps the backing in bank deposits and limits circulation to users who have passed the banks' identity checks. The three banks said in June 2026 that they aim to start live transactions within fiscal 2026, which ends in March 2027. The first users are corporate; no retail launch date has been announced.
Risks before you hold a yen stablecoin
It is not a deposit. A stablecoin pegged at ¥1 feels like a bank balance, but deposit insurance does not cover it. Its value rests on the issuer's reserves and its promise to redeem. Read the issuer's disclosures from time to time.
Self-custody means self-responsibility. Send JPYC to the wrong address or the wrong network and it may be gone. Lose your recovery phrase and nobody can restore the wallet. And because JPYC EX only redeems coins sent from registered addresses, keep track of which address holds your JPYC.
Fakes are easy to make. Anyone can deploy a token called "JPYC" on a public blockchain. Check the contract address the issuer publishes, and ignore social-media offers of free JPYC or high-yield JPYC schemes. See crypto scams in Japan.
Leaving Japan. Redemptions pay out to the Japanese bank account you registered. If you are moving abroad, redeem or decide what to do with your JPYC before you close that account, and check JPYC's terms on non-resident status. Our guide to moving to or leaving Japan with crypto covers the tax side of the move.
How are stablecoins taxed in Japan?
Here we have to be straightforward: the rules are not fully spelled out. The National Tax Agency publishes a detailed FAQ on crypto assets, but we found no NTA document that explicitly addresses holding or transferring electronic payment instruments such as JPYC or USDC. What follows is reasoning from principles that are confirmed.
JPYC and JPYSC are issued and redeemed at ¥1, so receiving them for yen and later swapping them back to yen should not by itself produce a gain. Swapping crypto into a stablecoin is different. Turn ETH into JPYC or USDC and you have disposed of the ETH, much like swapping crypto for crypto or paying with crypto, which the NTA treats as taxable. The gain on the ETH is generally miscellaneous incomeZatsu shotoku (雑所得): the catch-all income category, taxed together with your salary at progressive rates of up to 55% including resident tax.. Dollar stablecoins add a currency question, because their yen value moves. SBI VC Trade says JPYSC lending income is treated as miscellaneous income. For anything specific, ask your local tax office or a licensed tax accountant (zeirishi). The general rules are in our Japan crypto tax guide, and the planned 20% regime in the 20% crypto tax reform.
JPYC and yen stablecoins: FAQ
What is JPYC?
JPYC is a yen-denominated stablecoin issued by JPYC Inc., a funds transfer business registered under Japan's Payment Services Act. It is issued and redeemed at 1 JPYC = ¥1 and backed by yen deposits and Japanese government bonds. Issuance started on October 27, 2025, and cumulative issuance passed ¥10 billion on September 18, 2026.
Is there a Japanese yen stablecoin I can buy on an exchange?
JPYC is not listed by Japanese crypto exchanges; you mint it through JPYC EX. SBI's trust-type yen coin JPYSC can be bought inside an SBI VC Trade account at a fixed ¥1, but for now it cannot be withdrawn to an outside wallet.
Can foreigners get JPYC?
Residents of Japan can, provided they complete JPYC EX's identity check, which uses the My Number card's digital certificate, and register a Japanese bank account for redemptions. Tourists and non-residents without a My Number card cannot complete onboarding.
Is JPYC the same as the old JPYC Prepaid?
No. JPYC Prepaid was a prepaid payment instrument, closer to a gift card, and new issuance ended on June 1, 2025. At the time, existing balances could still be used for payments and transfers, but cash redemption was not planned. Today's JPYC is an electronic payment instrument redeemable in yen.
Is there a limit on JPYC transfers?
Yes. Because JPYC is issued by a funds transfer business, issuance is capped at ¥1 million per transaction, and rapid back-to-back requests are not allowed. SBI's trust-type JPYSC has no such cap.
Do I pay tax on stablecoins in Japan?
Holding JPYC at ¥1 should not by itself produce a gain. But swapping crypto such as ETH into JPYC or USDC realises the gain or loss on the crypto you gave up, and USD stablecoins move against the yen. We found no explicit NTA guidance on stablecoins, so ask the tax office or a tax accountant about your case.
Sources
- JPYC Inc.: official launch of JPYC and JPYC EX (Japanese, via ASCII.jp)
- JPYC Inc.: JPYC EX update, ¥1m per issuance and Kaia support (Japanese)
- JPYC Inc.: cumulative issuance passes ¥10 billion (Japanese)
- SBI Shinsei Trust Bank / SBI VC Trade: JPYSC backing in JGBs (Japanese)
- SBI VC Trade: JPYSC product page (Japanese)
- MUFG Bank and others: joint stablecoin pilot results (Japanese)
- FSA: register of electronic payment instrument dealers (Japanese)
- NTA: tax treatment of crypto assets FAQ (Japanese)
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