Japan's three megabanks will move to issue a jointly created stablecoin during fiscal 2026.

CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Tuesday that Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Mizuho Bank plan to soon sign a basic agreement and set up a consultative body to flesh out an operating plan.

The plan assumes the three banks obtain licences for electronic payment instrument transactions, with a trust bank taking the role of issuer trustee. The consultative body will start with the three banks at its core, but also has in mind later expanding links with other financial institutions.

The three banks' joint push for a stablecoin is not a new idea. Japan's Nikkei has previously reported that the three banks were already pursuing joint issuance and were looking to practical use within fiscal 2025. Japan's Financial Services Agency later decided to support demonstration experiments for stablecoin issuance by the three banks and others, stepping up formal-sector discussions.

Japan's Financial Services Agency created a new project specialised in the payments field and approved joint stablecoin issuance by Mizuho, Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui as the first support case. The project at the time focused on enhancing payments using blockchain technology. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama (가타야마 사쓰키) said progress was being made in discussions on improving blockchain-based payments, including tokenised deposits and stablecoins, and said the government would support implementation in areas such as legal interpretations.

The plan is also linked to securities settlement. In 2026, five firms including Daiwa Securities, Nomura Securities, Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group disclosed plans for demonstration experiments to verify trading of traditional assets such as Japanese government bonds and equities using blockchain data.

The experiments will test practical responses in securities settlement by linking smart contracts on a blockchain that handle digital money and alternative securities. The announcement at the time specified that the digital money assumed using the stablecoin the three banks are considering jointly issuing. That suggests discussions are moving toward combining a jointly issued bank stablecoin with capital market infrastructure, beyond serving as a simple remittance tool.

Key points to watch are the licensing process and whether participating institutions expand. The three banks are likely to first build a joint operating framework and organise the issuance structure, then broaden links with outside financial institutions. As a result, stablecoin discussions in Japan's financial sector are moving beyond individual bank experiments toward a joint payment network and use in securities settlement.