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Welcome to the one hundred twenty-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer.
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Chaos, chaos, everywhere! The subway line to the Osaka Expo 2025 broke down, leaving thousands of people stranded late into the night. McDonald’s offered a Pokemon promotion, leading to piles of “Happy Meals” discarded in their shops, stripped of the limited edition cards.
Thankfully, we operate in the orderly world of FinTech and crypto, where people actually know how to behave, the machine runs perfectly, and malfeasance is far from everybody’s mind.
Hence we have announcements for the first “real” stablecoin in Japan (vis-a-vis tokenized deposits or tokenized trust certificates), a Japanese blockchain firm building a CBDC pilot in Pakistan, and a payments firm filing for what will most likely be the largest ever IPO for a Japanese firm in the US markets. Stay calm and FinTech on! (editor’s note: that is NOT a verb)
Here is what we are going to cover this week:
Venture Capital & Private Markets: SBI Investment participates in crypto payments network Mesh’s funding round; Real Estate Tech “TRUSTART” raises JPY 1.3bn in Series C; the SMBC Asia Rising Fund has acquired a 4.99% stake in Shivalik Small Finance Bank; JIC decided to establish a JPY 800bn buyout fund; the draft report of the “Roundtable on the Supply of Growth Funds to Startup Companies” has been publishedBanking: banking stocks have filled the post-”Liberation Day” gapPayments: the Nikkei reported JPYC’s plans of obtaining a money transfer license and launching a JPY-backed stablecoin as “breaking news”; the State Bank of Pakistan has chosen Japanese blockchain developer Soramitsu to design and implement a central bank digital currency; integrated payment solutions provider CITCON has joined forces with Japan-based firm GMO Payment Gateway to expand cross-border payment capabilities; PayPay Corporation has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement for a US IPODigital Assets: Bitcoin Treasury company Metaplanet presented its earnings for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2025; KAIO announced the expansion of its tokenized fund offerings on the Hedera network, including the Laser Digital Carry Fund (LCF); Toyota Ventures’ portfolio company, Holyheld, has officially launched BRRR, a universal settlement layer designed to seamlessly connect blockchain networks with traditional payment systems; Rakuten Group has introduced “NFT tickets” for its professional sports teamsThe Last Word: Happy Meals
AloJapan.com