By Kaname Sugimoto and Shota Enokida / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
SBI Holdings Inc. will launch an asset management business that uses stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency backed by fiat currencies and other assets, according to company officials.
The Japanese company is set to start a lending service, as early as Thursday, in which users lend out their coins to generate yield. The company aims to popularize stablecoins in Japan, following their growing adoption in the United States and other countries.
SBI VC Trade Co., a subsidiary engaged in cryptocurrency exchange, will undertake the lending of USDC, a stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars and U.S. Treasury bonds.
Under the service, users will open an account online, exchange Japanese yen for USDC and then lend it to the company. The company later returns the USDC, plus profit. During the initial 12-week promotional period, it will offer an annualized rate of 10%, which will then drop to 5%. While there are no fees for exchanging yen for USDC or for lending, there are risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations.
The maximum amount that can be lent in one transaction is 5,000 USDC, currently equivalent to about 800,000 yen. The company is aiming for lending applications worth a total of 4 billion yen in the first month and will invest the collected coins through the cryptocurrency market and other means.
The stablecoin market is expected to grow. According to Citigroup Inc., total issuance is projected to expand to as much as 4 trillion dollars by 2030, more than ten times the current level.
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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.
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March 18, 2026 06:26 ET (10:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 The Yomiuri Shimbun
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