digital assets
The first "Study Group on How to Respond to Digital and Decentralized Finance" of the 2026 fiscal year took place on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. The session commenced, as is customary, with explanations from the Secretariat, followed by presentations by Nomura Holdings and Securitize Japan. Global financial capital
digital assets
Japanese brokerage giant SMBC Nikko Securities and UK-based blockchain infrastructure firm Nethermind have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Uniswap Labs, Base, and the Nyx Foundation to build a compliant, institutional-grade decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity framework for the Japanese market. Dubbed the "DeFi Gateway," the project
venture capital
Decentralized finance (DeFi) risk-modeling firm Gauntlet has secured a $125 million Series C financing round led exclusively by Japanese financial services conglomerate SBI Holdings. The single-participant round, which finalized in June, marks the largest capital infusion for the New York-based startup since its inception in 2018. While
payments
Netstars, a leading provider of multi-cashless payment solutions, has launched "StarPay-X," a gateway concept designed to bridge the gap between traditional Web2 payment infrastructure and the emerging Web3 financial ecosystem. The initiative represents a critical step for Netstars as it seeks to transition from a QR-
DeFi
SBI VC Trade has released the results of a pioneering proof-of-concept (PoC) aimed at bringing institutional-grade compliance to Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The experiment, conducted under the auspices of the Financial Services Agency’s (FSA) "FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub," marks a significant step toward a
ai agents
SMBC Nikko Securities has entered into a strategic collaboration with blockchain infrastructure firm Nethermind, aiming to prototype a secure, compliant gateway for Japanese investors to access Decentralized Finance (DeFi) markets, utilizing advanced "agentic AI" to manage trading and risk. The initiative marks a pivotal step for one of
regulation
At a Japan Blockchain Association webinar held on February 18, 2026, Startale Group's Sota Watanabe and Kengo Masuyama discussed the evolving landscape of blockchain regulation in both Japan and the United States. The speakers highlight how US legislative drafts, such as the Lummis-Gillibrand and Clarity Acts, are
venture capital
Virtual asset firm Hyperithm has made a seed investment in Cork Protocol, a platform specializing in on-chain risk management. The investment is part of a larger $5.5 million (approximately 7.7 billion KRW) seed funding round co-led by crypto accelerator a16z CSX and Road Capital. The round
stablecoins
As Japan solidifies its legal framework for stablecoins following the implementation of the revised Payment Services Act, the conversation has shifted from "can we do it?" to "how do we monetize it?" At the second Japan Stablecoin Summit, hosted on February 3, 2026, by Pacific Meta,
stablecoin
Pacific Meta, supported by KDDI and Progmat, hosted the second Japan Stablecoin Summit on February 3, 2026. This session discussed the domestic stablecoin market outlook for this year, with the following panelists: * Noritaka Okabe, CEO, JPYC (Issuer of yen-pegged stablecoin) * Yoshichika Imaizumi, Director for Blockchain and Innovation, Financial Services
DeFi
Secured Finance AG, the Japanese-founded, Swiss-based developer of the Secured Finance DeFi protocol, has integrated tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) into its lending platform, marking a significant step in bridging traditional capital markets with decentralized finance. Under the new partnership with DigiFT, a regulated exchange for real-world
blockchain
Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings and Web3 infrastructure firm Startale Group have formally unveiled "Strium," a joint venture aimed at establishing a dominant blockchain infrastructure for the Asian capital markets. The project represents the first major deliverable from the strategic partnership the two entities formed in August