Sony Bank plans to issue a 1:1 USD‑pegged stablecoin by fiscal year 2026 to enable crypto payments across the PlayStation ecosystem and other Sony entertainment services. The initiative rests on a U.S. push — including an application for a banking/trust vehicle and technical partnerships — and aims to lower payment costs and speed settlements inside Sony’s digital platforms.
Sony Bank is preparing a dollar‑pegged token intended for use across PlayStation, streaming and anime platforms, positioning the coin as an internal payments rail for microtransactions and subscriptions. The company has taken several concrete steps: it formed BlockBloom Inc. in June 2025 as a Web3 subsidiary, pursued a U.S. banking license application in October to support issuance, and plans to operate the token via a U.S. issuing vehicle identified in filings as Connectia Trust.
The technical and commercial architecture relies on outside providers for issuance and compliance. Sony’s corporate venturing arm participated in a $14.6 million funding round for Bastion, a U.S. stablecoin infrastructure provider whose “stablecoin‑as‑a‑service” platform is slated to provide issuance capabilities.
Sony has also experimented previously with a yen‑pegged token with Polygon Labs and SettleMint, signaling continuity from proofs‑of‑concept to an asset designed for dollar‑denominated commerce.
Crypto payments and regulatory context for Sony
The plan has drawn regulatory and industry pushback. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has flagged concerns about the stablecoin’s design: perceived similarity to bank deposits without FDIC insurance, limited public detail on reserve composition, redemption mechanics during stress, and the use of a trust charter for what critics view as banking‑like activity.
These objections focus on systemic and consumer‑protection risks that could arise if large volumes migrate to tokenized deposits.
The project also sits within a wave of corporate and institutional stablecoin activity. The broader stablecoin market is cited as exceeding $306 billion, with projections up to $2 trillion by 2028 and around $1.9 trillion by 2030; contemporaneous initiatives include dollar and euro token projects from financial incumbents and fintech firms. Legislative and regulatory moves — exemplified by recent U.S. stablecoin frameworks — are shaping the environment in which Sony seeks approval and operational clearance.
Sony’s roadmap ties product integration to regulatory milestones: technical partnerships and a proposed issuing trust aim to ready the token, while a banking/trust charter application seeks legal cover in the U.S. If approved, the stablecoin could change how PlayStation handles in‑platform payments by reducing intermediary fees and settlement latency.
