Japan Financial Services Agency selects major securities groups for blockchain rights transfer and stablecoin settlement pilot under its Payment Innovation Project

The Japan Financial Services Agency has decided to support a new demonstration experiment under the FinTech Demonstration Experiment Hub and its payment-focused Payment Innovation Project (PIP), marking the second supported project under PIP and the 12th supported project under the Hub. The pilot, led by Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, will test whether changes in rights holders for securities transferred under the Act on the Transfer of Corporate Bonds, Stocks, etc. can be executed legally and appropriately using blockchain technology. It will also examine practical approaches to linking transactions related to the rights-holder transfer with settlement using stablecoins, with an expected period from 8 February for the immediate future. After the experiment concludes, the Financial Services Agency plans to publish the results and conclusions, including compliance and regulatory-response issues and practical questions of legal and regulatory interpretation that could arise when offering services to general users, and it will announce further support decisions under the scheme as needed.