JPYC signed a memorandum of understanding on a business partnership with SBJ Bank and LINE NEXT and will jointly proceed with a proof of concept for an account-linked charging function connecting bank accounts with digital wallets. No timing was given.
JPYC announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with SBJ Bank and LINE NEXT and would begin joint work on a proof of concept for an account-linked charging function. SBJ Bank will provide bank accounts and infrastructure, and the parties will verify how to connect JPYC’s stablecoin with existing financial services. LINE NEXT will provide digital services, including Unifi, and blockchain technology, and the parties will also consider the service structure.
Total JPYC in circulation was reported as approximately 3.26 billion JPYC at the time of the announcement, a figure cited as an indication of the project’s scale. The memorandum also includes a strategic business partnership between the 2 companies, and the potential for collaboration between LINE NEXT’s Web3 services, including Unifi, and SBJ Bank’s financial services will be considered.
SBJ Bank is a subsidiary wholly owned by Shinhan Bank, while Unifi is positioned as a wallet on the LINE app. The collaboration therefore looks toward the future creation of new remittance and payment services. Previous announcements by JPYC also described LINE NEXT as the U.S. entity of the LY Corporation group responsible for its Web3 business.
Separately, an agreement in principle on a partnership between SBI and a Korean card company was also reported on the same day, and a proof-of-concept study could advance the use of a yen-denominated stablecoin for retail payments.