JPYC launched on 27 October 2025 with government sign-off and one-to-one backing in cash or Japanese government bonds. The project aims to let people and institutions pay and get paid in yen across blockchains, and it is drawing close attention from banks, app builders and compliance teams. In a stablecoin market dominated by dollar tokens, JPYC brings yen liquidity to major networks for global use.
JPYC is a digital coin designed to always equal one yen. A Tokyo firm holds one real yen in a bank or in government bonds for every token it sells, and the government has signed off on the plan. The goal is worldwide use of yen on blockchains, with banks, app builders and compliance staff watching closely.
JPYC Inc. won approval on 18 August 2025 and fully backs every token with Japanese bank deposits or government-guaranteed bonds. The coin already runs on Avalanche besides Ethereum, so any DeFi program that handles dollars can also handle those yen. The firm says it wants ten trillion yen of coins in circulation within three years, about sixty six billion dollars.
Regional rules differ and the market is still dollar-heavy. Hong Kong began a licence system on 1 August 2025 that forces issuers to keep every coin backed by segregated cash, and Singapore keeps its own tight licence gate. More than 250 billion dollars of stablecoins exist and more than 99 of every 100 are dollar copies, so a yen coin starts as a narrow product, not an instant rival.
Implications, adoption and outlook
Early public-sector use has begun while daily limits keep the project within the law. So far a city office has paid construction crews with JPYC and another town has sent benefits the same way. Each customer may buy or sell only one million yen worth per working day. Monex Group and other Japanese brokers are drawing up their own yen coins, so domestic rivals already wait in the wings.
Legal supervision and backing with real state debt reduce the chance of breaking the one yen peg. Banks that care about safe custody may therefore use it. Yet wide use still faces three blocks: Japanese shoppers like paper cash, the law demands strict identity checks and dollar coins already rule the market.
The next clear test is the three year target of ten trillion yen in print. If the firm, the watchdogs and the rivals all move as predicted, the coin may earn the label “truly global”, though payment providers must still watch daily caps and other rules.
