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Bank of Japan to Test Blockchain-Based Reserve Settlement System

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The Bank of Japan is moving to place central bank reserve money onto blockchain infrastructure, a step that marks the first G7 central bank validation of distributed ledger technology at the reserve settlement level.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda confirmed the initiative Tuesday in a speech at the FIN/SUM conference in Tokyo, framing it as a necessary adaptation to what he called a “new financial ecosystem.”

The announcement carries institutional weight beyond Japan’s borders. It arrives as central banks globally race to establish credible blockchain settlement frameworks before private-sector tokenization outpaces regulatory infrastructure.

Key Takeaways:
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  • The BOJ is launching a sandbox to test whether central bank current account deposits — institutional reserves — can operate on blockchain-based systems, targeting interbank and securities settlement.
  • Japan is an active participant in Project Agora, the BIS-led multilateral experiment exploring tokenized central bank money for cross-border wholesale settlement.
  • Governor Ueda explicitly flagged smart contract code errors as a direct threat to financial stability, signaling the BOJ views technical risk validation as a precondition for any production deployment.

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What the Bank of Japan Sandbox Is Actually Testing

The sandbox targets BOJ current account deposits, the reserves commercial banks hold at the central bank, as the asset to be tokenized and tested on blockchain rails.

Ueda specified two primary use cases: domestic interbank settlement and securities settlement, both currently processed through BOJ-NET, Japan’s national financial network.

The core technical challenge is interoperability. The BOJ is not looking to replace legacy infrastructure wholesale but to prove blockchain can connect with it. Smart contract functionality sits at the center of that value proposition, enabling faster, programmable execution of settlement instructions that currently require manual or batch processing.

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Ueda did not specify a blockchain architecture or timeline for sandbox completion. He confirmed the BOJ will engage external experts throughout development, suggesting technology firm or academic partnerships are forthcoming.

However, Ueda’s concerns about smart contract risk were unambiguous:

“Smart contracts are highly convenient in that they allow transactions to be carried out automatically without any manual labor. When the design of the smart contracts is inadequate, however, there is a risk that the stability of financial markets and payment systems will be threatened due to fraudulent use.”

What Does the BOJ Move Signal for Tokenized Finance?

Japan’s experiment positions it alongside, not behind, the most advanced institutional blockchain programs globally.

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The BOJ is a participating jurisdiction in Project Agora, the Bank for International Settlements initiative exploring tokenized central bank money for cross-border wholesale payments.

Ueda confirmed that Project Agora participants are actively designing a framework for central banks to issue tokenized deposits on-chain with embedded smart contract functionality.

That multilateral dimension matters. Cross-border settlement inefficiencies cost the global financial system billions annually in correspondent banking delays and FX conversion friction.

A BIS-coordinated framework with BOJ participation opens a path toward atomic settlement across currencies, without relying on private stablecoin infrastructure.

The domestic context reinforces the institutional momentum. Japan’s Financial Services Agency ran consultations in 2025 on reclassifying cryptocurrencies on par with securities.

In effect, the government has embedded blockchain and tokenization in its economic growth strategy. Japan’s first yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYC, launched in January 2021. The BOJ sandbox does not emerge from a vacuum; it sits atop an accelerating national tokenization agenda.

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Crypto Ecosystem Exposure Remains Indirect but Real

Permissioned blockchain networks, purpose-built for institutional settlement, the architecture most likely to underpin BOJ experiments, require the same smart contract tooling and security standards that public chains have been developing for years.

So, protocols and networks exposed to tokenized real-world assets and institutional-grade settlement infrastructure stand to benefit most as central bank experiments validate the underlying technology. The question is timing and whether public or permissioned chains capture the institutional layer first.

The BOJ’s next visible milestone will be the publication of technical findings from the sandbox and the naming of external expert partners.

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Those announcements will undoubtedly reveal which blockchain architecture Japan’s central bank considers fit for reserve infrastructure, and that choice will carry weight across the institutional DeFi space.

The post Bank of Japan to Test Blockchain-Based Reserve Settlement System appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Crypto World

Stablecoins Do Not Threaten Banking Just Yet: Analyst

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Stablecoins Do Not Threaten Banking Just Yet: Analyst

The impact of stablecoins on the banking sector appears “limited” at the current phase of the adoption cycle, but banks could face increasing competition and an erosion of market share as the stablecoin sector and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) grow in market capitalization. 

“So far, the use of stablecoins remains limited, but their market capitalization exceeded $300 billion at the end of last year,” Abhi Srivastava, associate vice president of Moody’s Investors Service Digital Economy Group, told Cointelegraph.

The stablecoin market cap has surged past $300 billion. Source: RWA.xyz

The role of stablecoins in payments, cross-border commerce and onchain finance is “expanding,” despite their currently limited role, Srivastava said, adding that existing payment systems in the US are already “fast, low-cost and trusted.” He said:

“For the banking sector, at this stage, disruption risk appears limited. In the near term, US rules that prohibit stablecoins from paying yield mean they are unlikely to replace traditional deposits at scale domestically.”

However, over time, growing adoption of stablecoins and tokenized RWAs, traditional or physical financial assets represented on a blockchain by a token, could place “pressure” on the banking sector, leading to deposit outflows and reduced lending capacity, he said.

Stablecoin regulatory policy has become a hot-button issue among crypto industry executives and those in the banking sector, with fears that yield-bearing stablecoins could erode banking market share proving to be a stumbling block for the CLARITY crypto market structure bill in Congress. 

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Related: Stablecoins behave like FX markets as liquidity splits: Eco CEO

CLARITY Act stalled, as banks fight yield-bearing stablecoins

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, also known as the CLARITY Act, is a comprehensive crypto market regulatory framework that establishes an asset taxonomy, regulatory jurisdiction and oversight over the crypto markets.

The CLARITY crypto market structure bill. Source: US Congress

It is now stalled in Congress after a group of crypto industry companies, led by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, publicly stated opposition to earlier drafts of the bill.

A lack of legal protections for open-source software developers and a prohibition on yield-bearing stablecoins were among some of the most contentious issues cited by crypto industry opponents of the legislation.

Several attempts have been made by US lawmakers and the White House to negotiate a bill acceptable to both the crypto industry and the bank lobby.

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Earlier this month, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said he plans to release an updated draft bill proposal that would be acceptable to both sides; however, the bill has reportedly received pushback, according to Politico, and has yet to be publicly released. 

However, other crypto industry executives and market analysts have warned that if the CLARITY Act fails to pass, it could open the crypto industry up to future regulatory crackdowns by hostile lawmakers and officials.

Magazine: Stablecoins will see explosive growth in 2025 as world embraces asset class