JSCC, Mizuho, Nomura Test 24/7 On-Chain JGB Collateral

Japan Securities Clearing Corporation, Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura Holdings and Digital Asset launched a proof-of-concept on April 20, 2026 to test round-the-clock on-chain settlement of Japanese government bond (JGB) collateral on the Canton Network. The trial runs through the end of September 2026.

The project was selected for support by Japan’s Financial Services Agency under its Payment Innovation Project in February 2026. The PoC will assess whether rights in JGBs, transferred under Japan’s Act on Book-Entry Transfer of Corporate Bonds and Shares, can move across a blockchain without losing legal standing. It will also test whether changes to book-entry transfer records can be recorded in real time within a multi-institution account structure.

Participants in the trial include clearing houses, institutional investors, client accounts and agents handling both domestic and cross-border workflows. The partners aim to move collateral posting and substitution from processes tied to business hours into continuous, real-time processing.

Digital Asset is supplying the Canton Network platform for the trial. Canton is built for institutional finance and includes features that allow transactions without exposing all data on a shared ledger. The PoC will test collateral posting, substitution and coordination with digital-native assets held by the same institutions, and will seek to mirror current market operations while providing continuous availability.

JSCC previously joined DTCC’s Digital Launchpad sandbox in 2024 and has worked with Japan Exchange Group on research into tokenized collateral. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has examined tokenized collateral use cases for U.S. Treasuries on the Canton Network, providing a point of comparison for the JGB tests.

Organizers expect the PoC to clarify operational and regulatory requirements. Potential benefits under review include lower administrative costs for collateral management, reduced manual processing for posting and substitution workflows, and improved timing and coordination between JGBs and digital assets. The trial will also evaluate whether internal rules or regulatory frameworks need amendment before any commercial deployment.

The PoC is led at JSCC by President and CEO Isao Hasegawa; at Mizuho by President and Group CEO Masahiro Kihara; at Nomura by Representative Executive Officer and President Kentaro Okuda; and at Digital Asset by CEO Yuval Rooz. No commercial launch date has been set; next steps will depend on findings from the testing period and any regulatory or rule changes identified.