SBI Holdings and Solana Foundation Form SBI Solana Global to Build Japan's Onchain Financial Market

SBI Holdings and the Solana Solana SOL$77.25+3.2% Foundation announced on July 13 at the WebX Tokyo conference that the Solana Foundation is acquiring an equity stake in SBI R3 Japan, which will be renamed SBI Solana Global. The move places the foundation alongside two of Japan's largest financial institutions as co-shareholders in a regulated entity targeting stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and cross-border settlement infrastructure.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), one of Japan's globally systemically important banks, remains as an existing shareholder. Neither party disclosed the size of the Solana Foundation's stake or any product launch timelines.

SBI R3 Japan, the predecessor, had been built on Corda, the permissioned enterprise blockchain developed by R3; the rebrand shifts the entity fully to public-chain infrastructure on Solana, per CoinDesk.

Why the Equity Stake Is Structurally Different

Blockchain foundations routinely form technical partnerships with financial institutions. Taking equity inside a regulated entity operating within Japan's financial licensing framework is a different arrangement. The Solana Foundation now holds a direct ownership interest in a vehicle that plans to issue a yen stablecoin, tokenize government bonds and real estate, and build cross-border settlement rails on the same network it promotes.

Five Pillars: What SBI Solana Global Will Build

SBI Solana Global's mandate spans five areas, all deploying on Solana:

1. Stablecoin issuance and distribution, centered on JPYSC, Japan's first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin
2. Tokenization of real-world assets, including corporate bonds, commercial paper, investment funds, and real estate
3. Cross-border settlement infrastructure linking Japan's domestic asset pools to international liquidity
4. On-chain financial services for institutional investors, covering issuance, transfers, recordkeeping, and settlement
5. Payment infrastructure for the AI-agent era

JPYSC is backed by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank as the issuing trust bank, with SBI VC Trade distributing the token, per Blockhead. The stablecoin launched in Q2 2026 under Japan's Payment Services Act framework for asset-backed digital currencies. SBI VC Trade opened applications on July 16 for a 12-week JPYSC lending product paying 3% annual yield, per The Block.

The RWA tokenization pillar covers corporate and sovereign bonds, commercial paper, investment funds, and real estate, all targeted as candidates for on-chain issuance and distribution on Solana.

SBI's Six-Week Digital Asset Push

The SBI Solana Global announcement is SBI's fourth major digital asset move in roughly six weeks. The company agreed to acquire Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank for approximately $289 million, and acted as sole investor in Gauntlet's $125 million Series C and EDX Markets' $76 million Series C, per The Block.

Joseph Goh of Areta told The Block that SBI is working toward an end-to-end digital asset franchise spanning issuance, settlement, and market infrastructure across Asia.

Japan's Regulatory Setup: Stablecoin Framework and Crypto Tax Reform

Japan's parliament has advanced legislation classifying cryptocurrencies as financial instruments and is targeting a reduction in capital gains tax on crypto from 55% to 20% by 2028, per The Block. That regulatory direction, alongside existing frameworks for stablecoins under the Payment Services Act and for security tokens, provides a clearer institutional pathway than most markets.

Japan's alignment with Solana has been building across 2026. SBI VC Trade took over Solana treasury management for Tokyo-listed WIZE in June, and bitFlyer, an FSA-licensed exchange, listed SOL SOL in late June. Across chains, Solana logged $10 billion in tokenized stock volume in June, capturing 95% of on-chain equity trading.

The pivot from Corda to Solana signals a deliberate choice of public-chain rails over private-ledger models, connecting Japan's financial assets to open, global liquidity rather than a closed network. SBI said its intent is to use Japan as the base for expanding onchain financial markets across Asia and globally.