SBI Holdings has picked Ondo Finance for its Japanese stock tokenization push, but the real test is whether JPYSC moves from launch headline to settlement rail.
SBI Holdings, the Tokyo-based financial group that listed 38.29 trillion yen in total assets at March 31, 2026, has signed a strategic partnership with Ondo Finance to bring Japanese equities onchain. The market reacted fast. ONDO, the project's token, jumped about 15% on July 16, according to Bitcoin.com market data.
According to SBI's July 16 announcement, the two companies will work toward tokenizing Japanese assets, including Japanese stocks, through Ondo's platform and distributing Ondo products across SBI's financial network. SBI also said the companies will consider using JPYSC, its yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin, for onchain settlement and collateral. That wording matters. This is not live yet.
Still, it's not a casual memorandum dressed up as strategy. Ondo says tokenized instruments would be issued by Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Limited, while JPYSC gives SBI a domestic yen rail it already controls. The Block reported that SBI launched JPYSC on June 24 with Startale Group, with SBI Shinsei Trust Bank managing issuance and SBI VC Trade handling distribution. For a Japanese brokerage empire, that is real infrastructure.
That's the part worth sitting with. Ondo already has tokenized U.S. stock and ETF products under Ondo Stocks, formerly Ondo Global Markets, and it has been pushing those products to non-U.S. investors. A regulated Japanese group trying to pair tokenized equities with a trust bank-backed yen stablecoin is a different order of commitment than a testnet demo or a conference panel. It puts settlement, distribution and product design in the same conversation.
Ondo is making this move under new leadership. CoinDesk reported that founder Nathan Allman, a former Goldman Sachs digital assets executive, died unexpectedly in late May, and that president Ian De Bode, who had overseen strategy and product alongside daily operations for more than two years, became chief executive. The SBI deal is the clearest sign yet that the company hasn't gone quiet after that transition.
SBI's Busy Month
The timing matters. In early July, The Block reported that SBI Holdings USA was the sole investor in Gauntlet's $125 million Series C, backing the crypto risk and yield firm run by Tarun Chitra. CoinDesk then reported that SBI led a $76 million funding round for EDX Markets, the institutional crypto exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Fidelity Digital Assets and Citadel Securities.
Two big checks in one week tells you plenty. SBI is not dabbling.
Then SBI turned to its own rails. JPYSC, launched on June 24, is being positioned as a yen stablecoin for payments and collateral rather than just another exchange balance. On July 13, SBI announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation, saying SBI R3 Japan would be renamed SBI Solana Global and would work on stablecoin and tokenized real-world asset infrastructure, plus payments, with existing shareholders including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
The law helped too. CoinDesk reported on July 15 that Japanese lawmakers passed legislation reclassifying crypto as a financial asset, shifting it toward an investment framework under amended financial and payments laws set to take effect in 2027. That change could clear the way for tax cuts and potential spot crypto ETFs. SBI's month suddenly looks less like a string of announcements and more like a company preparing for the rules to catch up.
Who This Leaves Behind
Ondo's win here is also someone else's miss. Securitize has spent years building relationships with asset managers looking to tokenize funds and securities, and it counts BlackRock among its clients. SBI didn't choose it. It chose Ondo, and it chose Ondo for a job that sits close to one of Japan's largest financial distribution machines.
That should sting.
Tokenized stocks are still small next to tokenized Treasuries and stablecoins. CoinGecko's RWA Report 2026 said tokenized stocks made up 2.5% of tokenized RWAs at the end of the first quarter, while tokenized Treasuries held 67.2% and tokenized commodities held 28.7%. So don't pretend this is already a mass market. It isn't. But markets don't usually shift because the smallest category stays small. They shift when serious institutions decide the small category is worth building around.
The hard part comes next. SBI hasn't named the first Japanese stocks to be tokenized, the launch date, the eligible investors or the jurisdictions where trading will be offered. Its own announcement says those details will be decided after legal and regulatory requirements, plus internal procedures, are considered. Until real trades clear through JPYSC, this remains a partnership with intent rather than proof.
Betting against SBI following through after this month seems unwise. But you should watch the first cleared trade, not the first press release.
Also read: Zcash rallies past $550 as its Ironwood upgrade nears mainnet activation, Hackers hijacked Brian Chesky's X account to push an AI-written crypto tokenization thread, and BlackRock Becomes the First Money Manager to Cross $15 Trillion
