- Circle and Nomura plan to launch a USDC-based digital asset settlement and corporate payment service in Japan as early as 2027, allowing businesses to swap yen for the dollar-pegged stablecoin.
- The service will target Japan’s sizable import, export and corporate currency markets by using blockchain to cut cross-border and foreign-exchange transfer times from days to minutes.
- The partnership follows Japan’s updated payment rules that cleared USDC for local corporate use, with Nomura overseeing client onboarding, regulatory compliance and integration with existing banking systems.
Boston-based stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial announced a partnership on Thursday with Japanese financial conglomerate Nomura Holdings to launch a digital asset settlement business. The firms plan to deploy a corporate payment service in Japan as early as 2027.
The agreement will let Japanese businesses exchange yen for USDC, Circle's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, according to the announcement first reported by Nikkei. USDC is the world’s second-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, boasting a market cap of $73.8 billion as of this writing.
The Circle stablecoin token can be used for cross-border supplier payments, transfers between overseas affiliates, and foreign exchange settlements.
The business aims at Japan's import, export, and corporate currency markets. Bank for International Settlements data shows that Japan's foreign exchange market handled $440 billion in daily transactions as of 2025. Standard bank wires take two to three business days to clear funds between yen and foreign currencies. This blockchain setup can drastically reduce that transfer time.
