SBI Holdings and Startale Group announced on October 16, 2026, that they have joined Open Standard, an alliance of more than 140 leading global companies supporting the U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin Open USD (OUSD). The coalition includes Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase.
As part of the move, the two companies will explore a pilot connecting OUSD with JPYSC, the yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. The goal is to enable faster, more efficient, real-time onchain settlement between the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar. The public launch of OUSD provides the foundation for this interoperability work.
The initiative follows the passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act, which established a federal framework for stablecoin issuance and reserve management. Open Standard was launched in June 2026 and has expanded from more than 140 participants to over 200 financial institutions, fintechs, and banks. Founding partners include Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe, and Visa.
SBI and Startale have been active in Asia's onchain finance push. In July 2026, SBI Global Asset Management, DigiFT Tech, and Startale unveiled a proof-of-concept for settlement and distribution payments on tokenized securities. SBI has also become the first in Japan to offer U.S. dollar stablecoins USDC and RLUSD.
Yoshitaka Kitao, chairman and president of SBI Holdings, said seamless convertibility between yen-denominated and U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins is essential to the company's 'SBI APAC Digital Economic Zone' vision. Sota Watanabe, CEO of Startale Group, said the pilot could unlock significant opportunities by connecting two of the world's most trusted currencies onchain.
Both companies emphasized that the initiative remains in the planning and testing stage. No launch date has been announced, and commercial transaction rails are not yet operational. Technical feasibility, regulatory considerations, and cost benefits must still be validated before broader deployment.
