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South Korea’s Shinhan Card signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC to test yen stablecoin payments for travelers and cross-border trade settlement, Cointelegraph reported. The companies signed the pact on Tuesday, October 20, in Tokyo, with Shinhan announcing it the following day.
The work covers card payments, wallet-to-wallet transfers and settlement of commercial payments between the two countries, and includes an assessment of anti-money-laundering and fraud-detection controls. Crypto.news reported that the parties will also look at joining the XDC Network node ecosystem, though the Japanese partners have not committed to running a node.
Also read: China P2P stablecoin wallets grew 43-fold, Chainalysis finds
Key facts
- Shinhan Card, SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC signed the agreement in Tokyo on October 20, 2026; the announcement came October 21 (Crypto.news).
- The scope covers card-linked stablecoin payments, wallet-to-wallet transfers, international trade settlement and anti-fraud controls.
- Official tourism data shows 7,420,300 arrivals from South Korea in Japan through August 2026, up 21.2% year on year, and 2,698,857 visitors from Japan in South Korea, a 17.5% gain.
- Shinhan Card completed proof-of-concept work on stablecoin payments and overseas settlement in April.
- SBI VC Trade registered in March 2025 as Japan’s first electronic payment instruments exchange service provider and handles USDC.
A pilot, not a product launch
The agreement remains at the proof-of-concept stage. Neither outlet reported a commercial rollout date, and Crypto.news noted that the announcement leaves unspecified the token to be used, participating merchants, trial dates and proposed transaction limits.
Shinhan Card serves roughly 20 million card members, according to SBI, but the agreement does not say whether those cardholders will be included in the trials or how participants would be recruited. The core question Shinhan said it wants to test is whether Japanese visitors can pay with stablecoin-linked cards as conveniently as with ordinary cards. Currency conversion and merchant settlement mechanics in a production service have not been disclosed.
Also read: Kakao Pay, KakaoBank sign Fireblocks stablecoin MoU
The signing ceremony brought together Shinhan Card President Park Chang-hoon, SBI VC Trade President Tomohiko Kondo and SBI XDC Network APAC Chief Operating Officer Tadashi Yoshida. Kondo heads both Japanese companies.
Trade settlement and prior work
Beyond tourism, the companies will study whether stablecoins can support settlement of business payments and connect with existing international remittance arrangements. Shinhan said the partners would evaluate faster, more efficient settlement methods, but the announcement contains no measured processing times, fee comparisons or completed transactions.
Both sides bring earlier experiments. Shinhan Financial Group agreed in August to explore digital assets and artificial-intelligence payment services with Visa. SBI has pursued related projects separately: on October 16, SBI Holdings and Startale Group said they were considering tests linking a planned yen-denominated stablecoin, JPYSC, with Open USD. Crypto.news reported that SBI has not said JPYSC will be used in the Shinhan card experiment.
The two outlets framed the size of the corridor differently. Cointelegraph put combined arrivals at more than 10 million in the first eight months of 2026, citing official tourism figures from both countries, and said South Korea was Japan’s largest source of foreign visitors. Crypto.news cited a combined figure of more than 10.1 million and added Korean ministry data showing card spending by all international visitors in South Korea reached 14.018 trillion won in the period, up 48.5% year on year. That spending figure covers travelers from every country and does not measure prospective stablecoin demand.
Why it matters
The agreement links a large consumer card issuer with a licensed Japanese crypto operator, testing stablecoins inside familiar checkout rails rather than as a standalone wallet product. For travelers, the practical test is whether a yen-denominated token can match the convenience of existing cards. For businesses, it signals that cross-border settlement, not just retail payments, is on the table. It also puts Japan’s developing stablecoin regime alongside a Korean partner ahead of any commercial decision.
What to watch
Watch for the partners to identify the token, merchants and trial dates, and to set transaction limits. SBI said on October 21 that further details of the proposed initiatives would be released progressively, and the parties must decide whether the services are commercially viable.
Reported by cointelegraph.com.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto.news