Minutes Published: First On-Chain Finance Forum
Overview
At the first meeting, relevant ministries, agencies, and organizations reported on their on-chain finance initiatives, and experts discussed challenges to implementation. The secretariat emphasized development aligned with actual transaction needs, an appropriate combination of on-chain payments and existing infrastructure, and ensuring safety and stability. The meeting considered public fund disbursements, on-chain support for government bonds and Bank of Japan current account deposits, international cooperation, and the sound use of AI. The secretariat announced plans to prepare an interim review and a public-private partnership roadmap early next year.
Key points
- Identify use cases that meet actual transaction needs and advance social implementation through public-private cooperation.
- Combine on-chain systems and existing payment infrastructure appropriately to ensure safety and stability.
- Plans call for an interim review and a public-private partnership roadmap early next year.
Overview
At the first meeting, the Financial Services Agency, Digital Agency, Ministry of Finance, Bank of Japan, and Japanese Bankers Association reported on their initiatives, and experts shared their views.
The secretariat aims to advance initiatives that improve the real economy, including asset tokenization and links between logistics, commercial transactions, and payments. It will also consider how to use different systems according to payment characteristics and their effects on the financial system as a whole.
Impact
Links between logistics, commercial transactions, and payments could improve productivity. It was explained that interoperable cross-border transfers and payments could make transactions faster, reduce costs, and improve the convenience of the yen.
The meeting presented the idea of limiting public fund disbursements to specified purposes to improve the reliability and efficiency of benefit administration.
Details
The Financial Services Agency's Payment Innovation Project (PIP) supports businesses on legal interpretation and currently supports 4 cases: yen-denominated stablecoin transfers, securities settlement, interbank transfers of tokenized deposits, and trade operations management.
The Digital Agency will examine the technical aspects and legal treatment of public fund disbursements using stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The Ministry of Finance launched a study group on on-chain government bonds in October, while the Bank of Japan is advancing a DLT interoperability sandbox and Project Agora to explore the use of Bank of Japan current account deposits.
The Financial Services Agency published an AI discussion paper in March 2025 and held discussions at a public-private forum. The Financial Services Agency and Ministry of Finance are advancing international regulatory and supervisory coordination and dialogue with Asia, while the Japanese Bankers Association is considering next-generation interbank payment infrastructure and related initiatives.
Experts called for clear user benefits and implementation steps, auditable records and governance, international cooperation, and risk management. They also emphasized connecting trials to real businesses, as well as standardization, broad participation, and user confidence.