The JPYC stablecoin, which CoinDesk calls Japan’s top yen stablecoin, turned one on Tuesday 27 October with about 3.2 billion yen (roughly $20 million) in circulation. That figure, measured on 23 October, comes from the Nikkei and was relayed by CoinDesk, which says the token reached only about a quarter of its circulation target in its first year. Chief executive Noritaka Okabe blames a legal ceiling of 1 million yen that comes with JPYC’s licence.
The same Nikkei data show cumulative issuance of 12.1 billion yen since launch. The gap between the two numbers is tokens that holders handed back and redeemed for yen. Okabe was blunt in an interview with the Japanese outlet NADA NEWS, quoted by CoinDesk: “Frankly, I don’t think it’s growing.” He called trading volume “not bad” but said he was not satisfied with how much JPYC stays in circulation.
When JPYC began trading on 27 October 2025, the company set a goal of 10 trillion yen (about $65.4 billion) in circulation within three years, The Block reported at the time. It gave no target for the first year, and the internal goal CoinDesk and TokenPost refer to has never been published as a number.
JPYC stablecoin supply: 12.1 billion issued, 3.2 billion still out
The two metrics are easy to mix up, and several reports over the year did. Cumulative issuance counts every token ever minted. Circulation counts only those still held by someone. A business that mints JPYC to pay suppliers, who then redeem it for yen, pushes the first figure up and leaves the second flat.
Okabe gives rounder numbers than the Nikkei. According to TokenPost, he said cumulative issuance passed 10 billion yen by the one-year mark, with about 3 billion yen in circulation. The data tracker DefiLlama showed $20.85 million, according to CoinDesk. None of these figures could be checked against JPYC’s own site, which was not reachable when this piece was written.
| Date | Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| mid-May 2026 | over 2.5 billion yen; 18,000 accounts | cumulative issuance | company figures via The Bridge |
| 26 June 2026 | first above 1 billion yen | circulation | JPYC data via Bloomingbit |
| 18 August 2026 | about 2.83 billion yen | on-chain total (JPYC info) | NADA News via Bloomingbit |
| September 2026 | briefly above 4.2 billion yen | circulation, after the Upbit listing | CoinDesk |
| 23 October 2026 | 3.2 billion yen (about $20 million) | circulation | Nikkei via CoinDesk |
| 23 October 2026 | 12.1 billion yen | cumulative issuance | Nikkei via CoinDesk |
Read in order, the table shows a token that grew through the spring and summer, peaked in September and then gave part of that ground back. The May figure from The Bridge is cumulative, so it cannot be compared directly with the circulation numbers. The June and August points come from JPYC info on-chain data, reported by NADA News and republished by Bloomingbit.
Upbit listing pushed circulation above 4.2 billion yen for a few weeks
The one spike of the year came in September, when the South Korean exchange Upbit listed JPYC. According to CoinDesk, the market price went above 1 yen, which set off arbitrage minting: new tokens created at par could be sold for more. Okabe estimated that about 35 billion yen changed hands across Upbit and the blockchain, where users swap tokens directly from their own wallets without handing custody of their funds to a company.">decentralised exchange Uniswap in a single day.
Circulation briefly topped 4.2 billion yen, then fell back to around 3 billion yen, CoinDesk reports. There is trading demand for a yen token, but in September most of the new supply went straight back to the issuer.
Why circulation, not volume, pays the bills
The token is pegged 1:1 to the yen and backed by yen deposits and Japanese government bonds, The Block reported at launch. CoinDesk notes that the issuer earns interest on those reserves, so lower circulation means less interest income.
That makes the average balance outstanding the number that counts for JPYC, more than how often a token changes hands. A day of 35 billion yen in trades earns the issuer little if the tokens are redeemed a week later.
The 1 million yen limit, and why reports describe it differently
JPYC registered with Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) as a funds transfer service provider in August 2025, under Article 37 of the Payment Services Act. CoinDesk says the 1 million yen limit Okabe complains about comes from the rules for Type II providers, the category JPYC sits in.
How exactly the limit applies to JPYC is worded differently from one report to the next. CoinDesk calls it a daily issuance limit in its article and a per-transaction cap in its subheading. TokenPost says it applies to each issuance or redemption transaction. Crypto Briefing says per transaction. CoinDesk adds that JPYC changed its own rules in May 2026 so the cap applies per request rather than per day, while rapid repeat requests are still restricted. The common ground is a ceiling of 1 million yen on a single request.
For a company the limit is a practical problem. CoinDesk cites the software firm Asteria, which plans to hold 1 billion yen of JPYC and has had to build that balance in instalments.
Who can issue a stablecoin in Japan: banks, funds-transfer firms and trust companies
Japan wrote stablecoins into law early. In 2022 parliament passed amendments to the Payment Services Act that recognise fiat-pegged stablecoins as “electronic payment instruments”, as The Block recalled in February 2026. The law also limits who may issue them: only licensed banks, funds transfer service providers and trust companies, according to a Clifford Chance briefing on the amendment, enacted in June 2022.
JPYC took the funds-transfer route. It is open to non-bank firms registered with the FSA, and it comes with the 1 million yen limit described above.
SBI Holdings took the trust route for JPYSC, which launched on 24 June 2026 and which The Block called Japan’s first trust bank-backed stablecoin. SBI Shinsei Trust Bank manages the issuance and the licensed exchange SBI VC Trade distributes it, with the Singapore-based Startale Group as partner, according to The Block. SBI says JPYSC is not subject to the 1 million yen limits on transactions and balances.
No bank has a live yen stablecoin yet. Japan’s three megabanks, MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho, started stablecoin and tokenized deposit pilots, and the FSA announced its support for the project in December 2025, The Block reported. As we covered on 17 October, the megabanks have finished their yen stablecoin trial with Mitsubishi and aim for real payments by March 2027.
The FSA is now reviewing its stablecoin rules, with a roadmap expected in early 2027, according to CoinDesk. The report does not say whether the funds-transfer limit is part of that review.
SBI’s JPYSC is the trust-bank rival, with its own limits
JPYSC escapes the cap, but it has other constraints. It is available only to SBI VC Trade accounts until its regulatory and tax treatment is clarified, and SBI has not disclosed how much it has issued, The Block reported in June. With no circulation figure for JPYSC, a direct comparison with JPYC is not possible.
SBI is also building around its token. On Tuesday morning it signed a memorandum of understanding with BlackRock and Startale, covered in our report on the plan to link tokenized money funds with JPYSC.
Where JPYC is used: merchants, carriers and bank wallets
More than 150 merchants accept JPYC, and trials have run at Lawson, according to Crypto Briefing. The logistics group AZ-COM Maruwa, which signed an alliance with JPYC in July according to CoinDesk, plans to pay a network of about 2,300 carriers in the token and has invested in the issuer, Crypto Briefing reports. JPYC runs on Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon and Kaia.
Two separate bank deals exist, and both are at the study or trial stage. Sony Bank signed a memorandum with JPYC on 2 March 2026 to study letting its customers buy JPYC on JPYC EX straight from their deposit accounts, the bank said. On 21 October SBJ Bank, the Japanese bank of South Korea’s Shinhan group, announced a memorandum with JPYC and LINE NEXT for a proof of concept of account-linked top-ups into LINE NEXT’s Unifi wallet, as Bloomingbit reported. Neither is a live service.
The company has money to keep going. Its Series B round reached about 5 billion yen in total, with a first close of 1.78 billion yen and a second of 2.8 billion yen, The Bridge reported in May. New backers included funds linked to regional lenders and the insurer Meiji Yasuda, among them the Life Design Fund, the Awagin Mirai Sozo Fund and the Meiji Yasuda Mirai Kyoso Fund.
What JPYC needs in year two
Okabe wants circulation to reach tens of billions of yen in the second year, roughly ten times today’s level, according to CoinDesk. TokenPost quotes him aiming for at least tenfold growth and asking regulators to ease the limit. Even that would leave JPYC far from the 10 trillion yen it set itself at launch.
Among non-dollar stablecoins, JPYC already ranks among the larger ones, trailing the euro-pegged tokens, Crypto Briefing notes. In the EU those tokens are issued under MiCA as e-money tokens, by banks or licensed e-money institutions.
Several things are still unknown: the exact internal target JPYC missed, the current split of its reserves, its supply on each chain and whether the FSA will ease the funds-transfer limit at all. Readers new to the subject can start with our beginner’s guide to stablecoins. The next markers are the FSA roadmap, expected early in 2027, and the megabanks’ target of live payments by March 2027.