artificial intelligence
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Systems, and Trust have concluded a business partnership agreement aimed at improving system development productivity through the utilization of generative AI. Trust was founded in 2023 and is a startup that provides services to streamline system development using generative AI. According to
crypto
gumi has resolved, at the Board of Directors meeting held on August 28, 2025, to purchase 2.5 billion yen worth of crypto assets (XRP). The purchase(s) will be carried out between September 2025 and February 2026. gumi will conduct a quarterly mark-to-market valuation of its held crypto assets,
Insurance
The FWD Group has published its interim results report for the six months ended June 30, 2025, its first since going public on the Hong Kong Exchange in July 2025, allowing for a look at its Japanese business. FWD entered the Japanese market in 2017 through the acquisition of AIG
venture capital
TransBnk has raised $25 million in its Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Arkam Ventures, Fundamentum Partnership, 8i Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, and GMO Venture Partners. This milestone marks a significant step in TransBnk’s journey to reshape the foundations of digital transaction banking.
mergers & acquisitions
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, its consolidated subsidiary MUFG Bank, WealthNavi, a consolidated subsidiary of MUFG Bank, and shareholders of Moneytree have entered into a stock transfer agreement dated July 31, 2025, and as August 29, 2025, MUFG Bank has acquired the issued shares of Moneytree. As a result, Moneytree will
web3
A focused finance session in Osaka followed by two main conference days in Tokyo—this was my firsthand experience at WebX 2025. I have combined on-site observations, in-depth conversations, trend insights, and policy interpretations to offer those who could not attend a more vivid and complete sense of being there—
venture capital
Visual Bank has raised 1.1 billion yen in equity financing through its Series B round. The round was led by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital, with participation from CDIB Cross Border Innovation Fund, Incubate Fund, Aozora Corporate Investment, SMBC Venture Capital, W fund, and others. The Purpose of the Series
stablecoin
Densan System has concluded a basic agreement on joint study with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Ava Labs with the aim of creating new services related to future stablecoin payment, distribution, and management. Overview of the Agreement SMBC, Densan System, and Ava Labs will study approaches to the sound distribution
venture capital
Tazapay, a leading global cross-border payments infrastructure platform, has successfully closed its Series B funding round with investment from Peak XV Partners, Ripple, Circle Ventures, Norinchukin Capital, and GMO VenturePartners. Existing investor Peak XV Partners led the round and 2 other existing investors January Capital and ARC180 joined the round.
digital assets
SBI Group and Chainlink, the industry-standard oracle platform, have announced a strategic partnership focused on accelerating blockchain and digital asset adoption across global markets. Japan's sophisticated financial market and rapidly evolving digital asset ecosystem provide an ideal environment to launch and validate initial use cases. This strategic collaboration
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred twenty-sixth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Quite the week in Japan, with the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9), as well as the kick-off to Japan Blockchain Week with the WebX Fintech EXPO in Osaka. The former was dominated by SMBC making
stablecoin
Simplex and Ava Labs have conducted a proof of concept combining Simplex's stablecoin issuance and redemption system "Simplex Stablecoin" with Ava Labs' blockchain infrastructure service "AvaCloud" to achieve financial services-grade availability and low latency. Currently, many financial institutions and companies domestically and internationally