Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin went live in Japan on Wednesday after receiving approval from Japan's Financial Services Agency, becoming among the first foreign-issued stablecoins classified under Japan's revised Payment Services Act.
Ripple and SBI Holdings announced the launch on June 24, distributing RLUSD to institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade's VCTRADE platform. The JFSA classified RLUSD as a new category of electronic payment instrument for foreign-issued stablecoins under Japan's Payment Services Act, a regulatory designation created specifically for that asset class. "Japan has long been a leader in digital asset adoption, underpinned by both regulatory clarity and financial innovation," said Jack McDonald, Ripple's Senior Vice President of Stablecoins, in the press release. RLUSD carries a circulating supply of roughly $1.7 billion since its launch in late 2024, per Ripple.
SBI Group invested in Ripple in 2016, and the decade-long partnership already underpins SBI Remit's cross-border remittance corridors on Ripple Payments. RLUSD is the second US dollar stablecoin on SBI VC Trade's platform alongside USDC. SBI VC Trade also co-launched JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin, the same week as RLUSD. The FSA-registered electronic payment instruments list now shows SBI VC Trade handling USDC, RLUSD, and JPYSC simultaneously, making SBI an access layer for multiple stablecoin issuers regardless of which token wins each use case.
