JCB, Circle to Pilot USDC Stablecoin Payments in Japan

JCB, Japan’s largest domestic payment network, and Circle signed a memorandum of understanding to pilot USDC for a proof-of-concept covering internal cross-border transfers and merchant payments in Japan.

The initial project will test USDC for internal cross-border fund transfers within JCB’s systems and evaluate whether merchants can accept USDC from international customers. The partners will also assess technologies that enable interoperability across multiple blockchain networks. No timeline for commercial rollout has been provided.

The agreement follows a January pilot JCB launched with Digital Garage and Resona Holdings to trial stablecoin transactions at physical stores and to identify technical and operational issues for merchant adoption.

Other initiatives in Japan include work by Circle and Nomura on a stablecoin-based foreign exchange settlement service to convert yen into USDC for cross-border payments; a planned Lawson trial of yen-denominated stablecoin payments at a Tokyo outlet starting in August; and Netstars’ merchant service that supports USDC, Tether’s USDT and JPYC across the Solana and Polygon networks.

USDC has a circulating supply of about $73 billion, compared with Tether at roughly $184 billion. Japan’s 2023 amendments to the Payment Services Act allow banks, trust companies and licensed money transfer providers to issue fiat-backed tokens. In June, the Lower House passed a bill to classify crypto assets as financial instruments.

JCB and Circle will continue to study additional use cases and infrastructure needs beyond the initial tests. Details on commercial deployment and timing remain unspecified.