JPYC stablecoin falls short of targets in first year, CEO says

Japan’s first regulated yen stablecoin has reached its first birthday, and the founder is not celebrating.

JPYC CEO Noritaka Okabe told NADA NEWS that the yen-backed token has not gained the traction his company expected. It is a rare moment of candor in an industry that usually treats every milestone as a moonshot.

“Frankly, I don’t think it’s growing,” Okabe said.

He described trading volume as not bad. Circulation was the problem. The amount of JPYC actually outstanding has failed to satisfy him, and it sits well below the company’s internal targets.

A year of numbers, and a gap

JPYC launched on October 27, 2025, after the issuer registered as a funds transfer service provider in Japan. By its first anniversary on October 27, 2026, cumulative issuance had passed ¥10 billion.

Cumulative issuance and circulating supply are not the same thing. The first counts every token ever minted. The second counts what is still out there being held or used after redemptions. For a stablecoin, circulation is the number that matters, because it shows how much money people are willing to park in the token rather than cycle through it.

That is where JPYC has stalled. Okabe pointed to a specific obstacle: a ¥1 million cap on each transaction. For a consumer buying groceries, that limit is irrelevant. For a company settling invoices with suppliers, it is a speed bump on every payment.

Okabe is not shrinking his ambitions in response. He is targeting tenfold growth in the token’s second year, a goal that puts a lot of weight on the partnerships JPYC has lined up.

The partnerships doing the heavy lifting

The weak circulation figures sit awkwardly next to a fairly impressive roster of partners.

Logistics firm AZ-COM Maruwa plans to use JPYC to pay a network of 2,300 carriers. The company has also invested in the issuer, so it has a financial stake in the token working, not just an operational one.

On October 20, 2026, JPYC signed a memorandum of understanding with SBJ Bank and LINE NEXT. The three will explore connecting bank accounts directly to JPYC wallets.

On the retail side, more than 150 merchants have started accepting JPYC. Trials have also run at chains including Lawson, one of Japan’s most recognizable convenience store brands.

How JPYC is built

Under the hood, JPYC runs on four blockchains: Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon and Kaia. That spread gives developers and exchanges several options for integrating the token, rather than forcing everyone onto a single network.

The token is backed by yen deposits and Japanese government bonds. The issuer has committed to redeeming JPYC for yen at 1:1 through its JPYC EX platform.

Circulation has also been bumpy. Interest from international traders has pushed supply around, most visibly when South Korea’s Upbit exchange listed JPYC in September 2026. That listing temporarily sent the token trading at a premium, which is an odd look for an asset whose whole job is to be worth exactly one yen.

Despite the slow first year, JPYC ranks among the larger stablecoins not pegged to the US dollar, trailing tokens tied to the euro.

Why the first year matters

The ¥1 million cap is the most concrete issue Okabe has flagged. Corporate payments are the obvious growth engine for a yen stablecoin, since businesses move larger sums more often than consumers do. As long as the cap applies, those flows face friction that bank transfers do not.

That makes the AZ-COM Maruwa rollout worth watching. Carrier payments are recurring, operational and fairly predictable.

The SBJ Bank and LINE NEXT arrangement is the other piece to track. The MoU only commits the parties to explore that integration, so the timeline and final shape are still open.

Okabe’s bluntness is, at least, a useful baseline. Year two now has a clear scorecard, set by the person running the company.