Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has approved its fourth stablecoin pilot project, expanding its Payment Innovation Project (PIP) to include cross-border trade settlement. This initiative allows trade finance to benefit from stablecoin-based solutions, with the aim of speeding up exporter payments and enabling banks to automate processes around payment instructions and receipt confirmations.
Stablecoin pilot expands to trade finance
The latest pilot features returning participants from earlier programs, including Japan’s three megabanks: Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking also joins the project, along with NTT Data and trade-platform operator TradeWaltz. These banks collectively manage $6.8 trillion in assets.
The program leverages TradeWaltz’s Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, which digitizes international trade documents. Currently, cross-border transactions in Japan rely heavily on traditional, paper-based processes such as letters of credit and bills of lading.
Through the pilot, stablecoin payments are initiated when exporters upload shipping documents to TradeWaltz. After a bank reviews and approves the documentation, payment for the export receivable is settled using stablecoins. For now, only the settlement between exporters and their banks is included in the pilot, but expanding coverage to importers and their banks is under consideration.
Once an exporter uploads the necessary shipping documents via TradeWaltz and the bank approves the transaction, stablecoin payments are automatically triggered, allowing for faster settlements and automated confirmation processes between exporters and their banks.
The trust-backed yen stablecoin involved in the project is expected to be ready for commercial transactions in the fiscal year ending March 2027. TradeWaltz confirmed that participating financial institutions will collaborate to examine the settlement token, which is being developed through PIP’s earlier initiatives.
Background and regulatory context
The FSA’s statement marks the fourth project approval within PIP, and the fifteenth overall since the launch of the FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub in 2017. Specialists in blockchain technology, financial law, and international trends run the payment-focused division. The PIP track began in November 2025, featuring a series of projects that gradually expand the scope of regulated digital asset use in Japan.
The first PIP project, initiated in November 2025, involved the three megabanks forming a plan for a jointly issued payments stablecoin. The second pilot, announced in February 2026, expanded the framework to securities transfers on blockchain, in partnership with Nomura and Daiwa. In April 2026, DeCurret DCP and GMO Aozora Net Bank led the third program, focusing on tokenized deposit interbank settlement.
According to TradeWaltz, the new pilot for trade finance extends the team’s experience in stablecoin projects. The institutions involved have outlined a longer-term roadmap that includes smart-contract escrow and electronic bills of lading, aiming to shift more of the trade workflow onto blockchain infrastructure.
The FSA intends to publish findings on compliance and supervisory outcomes at the conclusion of the trial, as with each Payment Innovation Project case. While no firm end date has been specified, the pilot begins in September 2026 and is expected to run through early phases of live testing.
This pilot aligns with Japan’s broader strategy towards digital assets. As of August 2026, the FSA created a Crypto Assets and Stablecoins Division as part of efforts to reclassify crypto as a financial product and adjust the tax structure for digital assets.
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