Japan’s SBI forges new blockchain partnerships with Circle, Ripple and Startale

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Group has announced three new blockchain partnerships with prominent Web3 firms: Circle, Ripple and Startale. The agreements cover stablecoin initiatives with U.S.-based Circle and Ripple, and a separate joint project with Singapore’s Startale to build a platform for tokenized assets.

Under the deal with Circle, SBI plans to establish a joint venture intended to promote use cases and broader adoption of Circle’s USDC in Japan. The collaboration is positioned to explore applications across Web3 and digital finance that could make USDC more widely available to Japanese users and institutions.

Separately, SBI reached a memorandum of understanding with Ripple Labs to distribute Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, in Japan. SBI’s crypto arm, SBI VC Trade, will lead distribution efforts and aims to make RLUSD available in the Japanese market during the fiscal year ending March 2026. SBI VC Trade’s leadership described the move as expanding stablecoin choice in Japan while enhancing convenience and trust for local users.

The Startale partnership focuses on tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). SBI and Startale will work together to build an on-chain trading venue for tokenized stocks and RWAs that supports 24/7 trading and real-time settlement. SBI said the project includes milestone-based committed funding and is intended to increase liquidity and capital efficiency by merging elements of traditional finance with decentralized technologies.

SBI’s chief executive framed tokenized RWAs as a catalyst for faster convergence between conventional capital markets and DeFi, predicting that growing tokenization could eventually lead to broader digitalization of exchanges themselves. Startale’s chief executive indicated the venture’s goal is to deliver a compliant, always-on platform, but declined to disclose technical architecture or a launch timeline, saying those details will be revealed later.

The announcements build on SBI’s existing relationships in the crypto sector. The group has previously worked with both Circle and Ripple, and SBI VC Trade completed registration steps to support USDC operations earlier in the year. The new agreements extend those ties into distribution and tokenization projects aiming to attract institutional and retail participation.

Industry observers note the move is consistent with a wider trend: major financial firms and exchanges worldwide are experimenting with tokenized securities and RWAs, launching platforms that enable continuous trading and settlement. Firms such as Gemini, Kraken and Robinhood have introduced similar tokenized-stock offerings, reflecting growing interest in digitizing traditional assets.

Cointelegraph contacted SBI for additional comment on the joint tokenization venture but had not received a response at the time of publication.