SBI to offer 3% yield on trust-bank yen stablecoin, testing Asia’s rules on interest-bearing tokens
SBI Group plans a JPYSC lending product paying 3% annually, weeks after launching Japan’s first trust bank-issued yen stablecoin, per Nikkei.
SBI Group is preparing to launch a lending service offering a 3% annual yield on deposits of JPYSC, its yen-denominated stablecoin, according to a report by Nikkei cited by crypto.news and The Block. The move comes barely weeks after the Japanese financial conglomerate introduced JPYSC as the country’s first stablecoin backed by a trust bank, and it is expected to go live this month.
The product would allow holders of JPYSC to earn interest by depositing the token into an SBI-run lending scheme, according to the reporting. Neither source detailed the precise mechanics of the lending structure, the counterparties to the loans, or how SBI intends to fund the promised return, and SBI has not issued its own public statement confirming the plan at the time of writing.
A yield feature for a trust bank-backed token
JPYSC was launched by SBI as the first stablecoin in Japan issued through a trust bank structure, a model designed to satisfy the country’s revised payment services rules, which require stablecoin issuers to hold client funds through licensed trust arrangements. Tokens issued under this framework are intended to be redeemable one-for-one for yen and are subject to oversight distinct from that applied to unbacked or algorithmic digital assets.
Adding a yield-bearing lending layer on top of that structure marks a notable step for a regulated, bank-affiliated stablecoin issuer. Most yen and dollar stablecoins circulating internationally do not pay interest directly to holders, both because of regulatory restrictions and because doing so can blur the line between a payment token and a deposit-like financial product.
A contrast with Europe’s MiCA regime
For UK and European readers, SBI’s plan is a useful point of comparison. The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation explicitly bars issuers of e-money tokens and asset-referenced tokens from paying interest to holders, a provision inserted specifically to prevent stablecoins from competing with regulated bank deposits and money-market products.
Japan’s approach, by contrast, appears to permit yield to be layered onto a trust bank-backed stablecoin through a separate lending arrangement, provided the underlying token issuance itself remains compliant with local rules. Should the SBI product proceed as reported, it would offer regulators and market participants in Brussels, London and elsewhere a live case study in how a jurisdiction with a bank-anchored stablecoin regime treats the question of interest-bearing digital yen.
Why it matters for institutional stablecoin strategy
SBI is one of Japan’s largest financial groups, with existing banking, brokerage and asset management operations, giving JPYSC institutional credibility that few retail-oriented stablecoins can match. A 3% yield, if confirmed and sustained, would place JPYSC in direct competition with conventional yen savings products at a time when the Bank of Japan has been gradually normalising interest rates after years of near-zero policy.
The development also lands amid a broader global contest among banks and financial institutions to establish regulated stablecoin rails, following moves such as Circle’s recent conversion of its dollar stablecoin operations into a federally chartered US bank structure. How Japanese authorities respond to a yield-bearing product built atop a trust bank stablecoin will be closely watched by regulators weighing similar questions in London and Brussels.
Read more: Circle wins full US federal bank charter, folding $73bn stablecoin into OCC oversight
