A $127 million stablecoin that can’t even be transferred out of its own wallet 🦖
South Korea’s Shinhan Card and two digital asset companies under Japan’s SBI Group announced a partnership on October 21 to test cross-border payments using a yen stablecoin. Use cases include Japanese tourists making card purchases in South Korea, transfers between wallets, and cross-border trade settlements.
But neither side said which stablecoin they would use or provided a testing timeline, let alone a date for commercial launch. Meanwhile, SBI’s existing yen stablecoin, JPYSC, had a circulating supply of just ¥20.1 billion—about $127 million—as of September 7. It can only be used within accounts on SBI’s own platform and can’t currently be transferred to external wallets.
Put those numbers together, and the gap is glaring 💥
Among dollar stablecoins, USDT has a market cap of about $182.8 billion and USDC about $72.1 billion. At $127 million, the yen stablecoin is worth just 0.007% of USDT—in other words, this isn’t a payment revolution already underway. It’s still a sample in the lab.
What’s really worth noting is who’s involved.
Shinhan Card has around 20 million cardholders and signed an agreement with Visa this August to study stablecoin issuance, transfers, and card settlement. Bringing in SBI now means combining the card issuer, acquiring network, and trust-based issuance structure on the Japanese side. The three companies also plan to work on suspicious transaction monitoring and compliance processes. These are the most expensive parts of cross-border payments.
And that’s where the problem lies.
JPYSC is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and was launched with Startale only in June. Whether it can be used on a public blockchain still depends on legal, tax, and regulatory approval. In other words, what’s being called “cross-border” for now is just a transfer from one account to another. The public-chain settlement that genuinely requires a stablecoin hasn’t been connected yet.
If the pilot starts with Japanese tourists making card purchases in South Korea, users will still see an ordinary card payment. The stablecoin will sit behind the scenes in the acquiring and settlement layers. Merchants will receive won, tourists will pay in yen, and the process may save time on currency exchange and wire transfers—but it won’t eliminate licensing and compliance requirements.
My take 📈
The stablecoin race in Asia is expanding beyond the dollar to local currencies. Settlement channels for the yen, won, and Hong Kong dollar are all being tested. But success won’t depend on how fast the blockchain is. It will come down to three things: whether reserves can be audited, whether funds can be freely transferred out of wallets, and whether merchants are willing to take on the cost of conversion. If even one of these gets stuck, adoption won’t scale. The $127 million figure is the answer for now.
Do you think yen stablecoins will take off first in travel payments or trade settlements? Let’s talk in the comments 👀
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, we bring you the latest in crypto market trends—not just what’s happening, but the logic and opportunities behind it 👀🚀
South Korea’s Shinhan Card and two digital asset companies under Japan’s SBI Group announced a partnership on October 21 to test cross-border payments using a yen stablecoin. Use cases include Japanese tourists making card purchases in South Korea, transfers between wallets, and cross-border trade settlements.
But neither side said which stablecoin they would use or provided a testing timeline, let alone a date for commercial launch. Meanwhile, SBI’s existing yen stablecoin, JPYSC, had a circulating supply of just ¥20.1 billion—about $127 million—as of September 7. It can only be used within accounts on SBI’s own platform and can’t currently be transferred to external wallets.
Put those numbers together, and the gap is glaring 💥
Among dollar stablecoins, USDT has a market cap of about $182.8 billion and USDC about $72.1 billion. At $127 million, the yen stablecoin is worth just 0.007% of USDT—in other words, this isn’t a payment revolution already underway. It’s still a sample in the lab.
What’s really worth noting is who’s involved.
Shinhan Card has around 20 million cardholders and signed an agreement with Visa this August to study stablecoin issuance, transfers, and card settlement. Bringing in SBI now means combining the card issuer, acquiring network, and trust-based issuance structure on the Japanese side. The three companies also plan to work on suspicious transaction monitoring and compliance processes. These are the most expensive parts of cross-border payments.
And that’s where the problem lies.
JPYSC is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and was launched with Startale only in June. Whether it can be used on a public blockchain still depends on legal, tax, and regulatory approval. In other words, what’s being called “cross-border” for now is just a transfer from one account to another. The public-chain settlement that genuinely requires a stablecoin hasn’t been connected yet.
If the pilot starts with Japanese tourists making card purchases in South Korea, users will still see an ordinary card payment. The stablecoin will sit behind the scenes in the acquiring and settlement layers. Merchants will receive won, tourists will pay in yen, and the process may save time on currency exchange and wire transfers—but it won’t eliminate licensing and compliance requirements.
My take 📈
The stablecoin race in Asia is expanding beyond the dollar to local currencies. Settlement channels for the yen, won, and Hong Kong dollar are all being tested. But success won’t depend on how fast the blockchain is. It will come down to three things: whether reserves can be audited, whether funds can be freely transferred out of wallets, and whether merchants are willing to take on the cost of conversion. If even one of these gets stuck, adoption won’t scale. The $127 million figure is the answer for now.
Do you think yen stablecoins will take off first in travel payments or trade settlements? Let’s talk in the comments 👀
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, we bring you the latest in crypto market trends—not just what’s happening, but the logic and opportunities behind it 👀🚀