Digital Garage, JCB, and Resona Holdings Form Strategic Alliance to Mainstream Stablecoin Payments in Japan
In a major push to modernize Japan’s payment infrastructure, Digital Garage (DG), global payments brand JCB, and Resona Holdings have entered into a tripartite partnership aimed at the full-scale social implementation of stablecoin payments.
The coalition aims to establish a next-generation financial ecosystem that leverages the stability and speed of blockchain technology to address inefficiencies in the current domestic payment landscape.
The Strategic Imperative
While the global market for stablecoins is expanding rapidly due to their utility as a settlement layer, Japan has faced hurdles regarding regulatory compliance and practical business modeling. This partnership seeks to bridge that gap. The alliance identifies significant opportunities in reducing foreign exchange friction for inbound tourists, streamlining fund settlements, and improving cash flow for merchants through immediate settlement.
However, the group acknowledges that widespread adoption requires overcoming substantial operational challenges and creating a business model tailored specifically to the Japanese regulatory environment.
Division of Labor
The partnership leverages the unique strengths of each industry heavyweight:
- Digital Garage (Infrastructure & Tech): Acting as the technological backbone, DG will utilize its subsidiary, DG Financial Technology—one of Japan’s largest payment service providers—and Crypto Garage, which holds a crypto-asset exchange license. DG plans to integrate stablecoin payments into its massive payment gateway, enabling settlement for both online and physical transactions. Crucially, they aim to secure licenses for "Electronic Payment Instrument Exchange," facilitating the seamless exchange and settlement between stablecoins and fiat currency to minimize disruption to existing merchant operations.
- JCB (Network & Acceptance): As Japan’s only international card brand with 175 million members and 71 million merchants globally, JCB is focused on market penetration. Their immediate goal is to prepare domestic merchants to accept stablecoins, catering to international visitors. Beyond retail, JCB is exploring B2B applications that utilize the unique characteristics of stablecoins to create new service models.
- Resona Holdings (Banking & SME Support): Leveraging its vast client base of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Resona aims to utilize the immediacy and low-cost nature of stablecoins to revolutionize financial services. The banking group is specifically looking into replacing traditional bank transfers to cut time and costs, while exploring "programmable money" features for corporate settlements.
The Pilot Program
To kickstart the initiative, the three companies will launch a Proof of Concept (PoC) experiment involving actual transactions in physical stores. The pilot will test payments using both USD-pegged and JPY-pegged stablecoins.
The experiment aims to verify:
- User Experience (UI/UX): The friction and ease of payment at the point of sale.
- Technical Stability: Blockchain processing performance and reliability.
- Merchant Settlement: The practicalities of converting crypto-assets to Yen for merchant payouts.
Executive Commentary
Kaoru Hayashi, Representative Director and Group CEO of Digital Garage, described the move as an evolution of the company's "DG FinTech Shift" strategy. "This challenge to create a new payment service using stablecoins is the very definition of connecting Web3 to real-world demand. We are fusing our blockchain expertise with JCB’s merchant network and Resona’s banking base to build a new cashless infrastructure."
Takayoshi Futae, Chairman and Executive President of JCB, emphasized safety. "While stablecoins offer new value, their social implementation requires a secure environment and a sustainable business model. We are committed to solving these issues alongside our partners."
Masahiro Minami, Group CEO of Resona Holdings, highlighted the shift from tradition. "By fusing the reliability we have cultivated as a traditional financial institution with innovative technology, we aim to solve issues regarding time and cost in bank transfers and create high-value-added services for our customers."
Norbert Gehrke
