Circle strengthens commitment to Japan with new investment and expanded USDC access
Circle today announced its deepened commitment to Japan by leveraging its Japanese entity, Circle Japan KK, and local partnerships to drive the adoption of Circle platforms and technologies in Japan. Circle’s partners in Japan will leverage Circle’s platforms to enable the adoption of USDC in Japan. These partnerships include a joint venture with Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings, with SBI VC Trade initiating a full-scale launch of USDC on March 26, alongside plans by leading exchanges Binance Japan, bitbank, and bitFlyer to list and distribute USDC in the near future.
On March 4, SBI VC Trade secured regulatory approval to introduce USDC under the Japan Financial Services Agency’s stablecoin regulatory framework, making USDC the first and only global dollar stablecoin approved for use in Japan. Today's announcement marks a milestone in the partnership that Circle and SBI Holdings began in 2023 to combine USDC distribution, banking and Web3 technology proliferation for the Japan market.
Circle’s launch in Japan establishes USDC’s market presence and liquidity in the country, while signaling growing institutional confidence in USDC’s utility and reliability. With a dedicated local entity, Circle is well-positioned to accelerate stablecoin adoption, enhance market infrastructure and support businesses and institutions by fostering talent to drive digital finance innovation. By integrating USDC into Japan’s digital finance ecosystem, Circle and its partners seek to provide reliable solutions for digital payments, settlements, and treasury operations.
USDC is a fully-reserved digital dollar backed 100% by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets and is redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. The USDC reserves are held at regulated financial institutions with published third-party monthly attestations, providing a high level of transparency for businesses and users.
Please follow us to read more about Finance & FinTech in Japan, like hundreds of readers do every day. We invite you to also register for our short weekly digest, the “Japan FinTech Observer”, on LinkedIn, or directly here on the platform.
We also provide a daily short-form Japan FinTech Observer news podcast, available via its Podcast Page. Our global Finance & FinTech Podcast, “eXponential Finance” is available through its own LinkedIn newsletter, or via its Podcast Page.
Should you live in Tokyo, or just pass through, please also join our meetup. In any case, our YouTube channel and LinkedIn page are there for you as well.
