Alliance of More Than 200 Organizations Tests Link Between Yen and Dollar Stablecoins
Key Facts
SBI Holdings and Startale announced that they have joined Open Standard and begun exploring a trial to link the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYSC with the dollar-denominated stablecoin OUSD, with the aim of speeding settlement between the two currencies and improving its efficiency. Startale said the alliance includes more than 200 global companies and financial institutions, placing the initiative within a broader effort to build interoperability among stablecoins. The announcement identifies the two parties studying the trial; it does not announce the launch of a tokenized money market fund or a new commercial service. Nor does it mean settlement or trading has begun in a live operating environment. The significance of the announced step lies in testing whether payments between the yen and the dollar can be converted through stablecoin infrastructure.
SBI Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao said, "Ensuring seamless convertibility between yen-denominated stablecoins and U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins is essential" for cross-border transactions. The statement puts convertibility between the two currencies at the heart of the trial, alongside the goal of making settlement faster and more efficient. According to Startale, the project aims to explore this possibility, not announce an operational result or a launch schedule. Open Standard includes more than 200 organizations, according to Startale's announcement, the alliance that SBI and Startale have joined. BlackRock's participation in the alliance is part of the broader initiative, but the announcement does not name it as a party to the JPYSC and OUSD trial.
JPYSC is a yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. The issuer's page says the coin is designed to target a 1:1 exchange ratio with the yen and that its trust assets are managed in bank deposits and Japanese government bonds. In an announcement dated September 7, 2026, the bank said it had begun investing part of the assets backing the coin in Japanese government bonds. This background ties the currency proposed for the trial to specific assets and reserves, according to the issuer's description. It does not change the nature of the current announcement, which is limited to exploring interoperability between JPYSC and OUSD.
JPYSC's availability remains limited, according to the issuer's page: SBI VC Trade does not currently allow deposits or withdrawals of the coin, although the page describes a mechanism to buy and redeem it in yen through the platform. This restriction means that discussion of linking it with another stablecoin comes at the exploration stage, while deposits and withdrawals through the named platform are not currently available. Separately, SBI Global Asset Management, DigiFT Tech and Startale announced a proof of concept in July 2026 for settling tokenized securities and distributing their payments, with the project designed to accommodate future use of JPYSC. That project concerns tokenized securities, while the newer announcement focuses on interoperability between two stablecoins. BlackRock launched two tokenized money market products, BSTBL and BRSRV, on August 3, 2026, in a move separate from the JPYSC and OUSD trial.
The initiative's broader context includes other stablecoin efforts in Japan. In its report, the Bank of Japan said stablecoins could offer "significant benefits in speeding up money transfers and lowering their cost" using distributed ledger technology. In June 2026, Reuters reported that Japan's three largest banks were targeting the issuance of a joint stablecoin during the fiscal year ending in March 2027. That is a parallel effort to expand digital payments, while the SBI and Startale trial concerns linking a yen currency with a dollar one. EL7 previously reported on July 16, 2026, on cooperation between SBI Group and Ondo Finance to tokenize Japanese stocks, another development in the group's digital asset activity.
In the market, BlackRock shares closed at $1127.66 on October 26, 2026. This comes amid the company's participation in the Open Standard alliance and its earlier launch of the tokenized products BSTBL and BRSRV, though the announcement does not link the share move to these developments. The near-term event in Japan is the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting on October 29 and 30, 2026, with the decision and the bank's forecasts due to be published on October 30. The meeting comes shortly before the interoperability study, but the source does not identify a link between the policy decision and the project. The trial announcement does not set a date for the start of a commercial service or actual settlement.