Update (Aug. 25, 3:50 am UTC): This article has been updated to add comments and information on SBI’s partnerships.
Japanese finance conglomerate SBI Group has partnered with the blockchain oracle platform Chainlink to create crypto tools for Asia’s financial institutions.
SBI said on Sunday that its collaboration with Chainlink will focus on “a number of key use cases for financial institutions in Japan and the APAC [Asia-Pacific] region,” with its initial attention on Japan’s market.
The pair will look at tools to allow cross-blockchain tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), such as onchain bonds, and use Chainlink’s technology to give onchain verification for stablecoin reserves, among other plans.
It marks the fourth crypto partnership for SBI Group in the past few days after it announced tie-ups with stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, crypto firm Ripple Labs and the Web3 infrastructure firm Startale on Friday.
Chainlink to back tech for finance
SBI added that its deal with Chainlink would see the firm use its flagship blockchain interoperability protocol for a host of use cases, including tokenizing RWAs and helping to facilitate foreign exchange and cross-border transactions.
“I am excited to see our great work move towards a state of production usage at a large scale,” said Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, adding his firm has long been helping SBI build stablecoin settlement use cases and “very advanced fund tokenization.”
The pair also said it would use Chainlink’s data feed tools to “bring net asset value (NAV) data onchain for tokenized funds.”
SBI Holdings chair, president and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said the two companies would also work on “powering compliant cross-border transactions using stablecoins, that accelerate the widespread adoption of digital assets in Japan and the region.”
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Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is set to approve a Japanese yen stablecoin for the first time as early as next month, with the fintech firm JPYC leading the rollout, according to local media reports earlier this month.
SBI to boost stablecoins with Circle, Ripple deals
SBI Group’s other crypto partnerships will see it promote Circle’s USDC (USDC) and Ripple’s Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoins.
The company’s crypto subsidiary SBI VC Trade aims to make Ripple’s stablecoin available during the fiscal year ending March 2026, while SBI will promote the use of USDC in Japan.
Meanwhile, with Startale, SBI said it would build an onchain trading platform for tokenized stocks and RWAs to enable 24/7 trading, copying the likes of Kraken and Robinhood, which have launched 24/7 tokenized trading platforms.
The expected launch date and the blockchain network the platform will use weren’t shared. Startale CEO Sota Watanabe told Coinpectra on Friday they’re “not ready to reveal the technical architecture just yet.”
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