SBI and Nodeinfra launch Project Musubi to cut Japan-Korea settlement risk

SBI Digital Practice and South Korean digital-asset infrastructure company Nodeinfra are moving to build a new Japan-Korea stablecoin network designed to make cross-border payments faster and reduce settlement risks between the two markets. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding on Aug. 7, 2026, launching what they call the Musubi Project.

Rather than immediately putting commercial stablecoins into circulation, the initiative will begin with test tokens denominated in Japanese yen and South Korean won. The companies intend to transition to regulated stablecoins once the relevant legal frameworks in both countries permit their use. The planned network will run on Canton Network, a privacy-enabled distributed ledger designed for institutional financial applications.

SBI and Nodeinfra target a costly cross-border settlement problem

The Japan-Korea stablecoin network is being developed around a specific weakness in existing cross-border settlement arrangements. According to SBI Digital Practice, payments between Japan and South Korea currently rely on sequential settlement through a U.S. dollar vehicle, creating structural inefficiencies and exposing participants to settlement risk.

Project Musubi aims to change that model through atomic payment-versus-payment, or PvP, settlement. Under the proposed structure, the yen and won sides of a transaction would be exchanged simultaneously rather than requiring one leg of the transaction to be completed before the other.

That distinction is important for institutional finance. In conventional settlement structures, a delay or failure on one side can leave a counterparty exposed while waiting for the corresponding payment. Atomic settlement is intended to reduce that mismatch by making the two sides of a transaction conditional on each other.

The project will also incorporate distributed peer netting and member self-governance. Together, those features are intended to create a network that can coordinate settlement among participating financial institutions without relying entirely on traditional intermediary structures.

Test tokens will come before commercial stablecoins

The initial phase of the Japan-Korea stablecoin network will use a yen-denominated test token and a won-denominated test token. These assets are being used for experimentation and should not be confused with commercially issued stablecoins.

The companies have not announced a commercial launch date, nor have they disclosed the names of banks, exchanges or payment companies that will participate in the testing phase. That means Musubi remains a development and testing initiative rather than an operational cross-border stablecoin payment service.

The regulatory distinction is particularly significant on the Korean side, where rules governing won-denominated digital assets are still developing. The companies have therefore tied the eventual adoption of regulated stablecoins to the legal frameworks established in Japan and South Korea.

SBI Digital Practice will concentrate on building the integration layers needed to connect traditional financial systems with the network. It will also use SBI Group’s financial relationships to support the onboarding of Japanese institutions.

Nodeinfra, meanwhile, will develop the core settlement protocol, smart contracts and developer tools. The Korean company will also assist with onboarding financial institutions and custodians in South Korea and help navigate the country’s regulatory environment.

Japan already has a stablecoin foundation

The Japan-Korea stablecoin network also arrives as SBI accelerates its broader push into institutional on-chain finance.

SBI launched JPYSC in June through SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. The company describes JPYSC as Japan’s first trust-type yen stablecoin, with SBI Shinsei Trust Bank serving as issuer and SBI VC Trade handling distribution. SBI says the stablecoin was initially offered within SBI VC Trade accounts, with a later move toward public-chain circulation subject to regulatory and tax-related arrangements.

That existing infrastructure could eventually provide SBI with a potential building block for cross-border digital settlement, although the Musubi announcement does not state that JPYSC will be used in the initial testing phase.

Ryo Shimotsu, representative director of SBI Digital Practice, said the company wants to connect Musubi with SBI Group’s broader on-chain infrastructure and financial network.

“By connecting the Musubi Project with the SBI Group’s on-chain infrastructure and the broad financial network of SBI Group companies across securities, banking, and asset management, we will set a new standard for payment infrastructure linking Japan and Korea,” Shimotsu said.

His comments underline the project’s broader ambition: to build infrastructure that connects conventional financial institutions with tokenized settlement systems rather than creating a standalone cryptocurrency payment product.

South Korea’s regulatory framework could determine the timeline

The biggest question facing the Japan-Korea stablecoin network may not be technical. It is regulatory.

South Korea is working toward broader digital-asset legislation that could establish rules for the issuance and circulation of digital assets, including won-denominated stablecoins. Recent discussions have pointed toward accelerating work on a Digital Asset Basic Act, but the regulatory framework is not yet equivalent to a fully operational commercial stablecoin regime.

That uncertainty explains Musubi’s decision to begin with test tokens. The companies can develop and evaluate the technical infrastructure while waiting for the legal conditions necessary for regulated stablecoins.

John Youngseok Yang, CEO of Nodeinfra, said his company would concentrate on the project’s settlement protocol and smart contracts.

“We will focus these capabilities on developing the Musubi Project’s core settlement protocol and smart contracts to deliver a safe and trusted cross-border payment infrastructure,” Yang said.

The Japan-Korea stablecoin network could eventually extend beyond the two-country corridor. SBI Digital Practice and Nodeinfra said they plan to explore additional currencies, jurisdictions and asset classes, while also strengthening technical capabilities through engineer exchanges and joint development.

For now, however, the immediate milestones are more modest: complete the technical tests, connect financial institutions, assess the settlement architecture and wait for sufficient regulatory clarity.

If those pieces fall into place, Musubi could become an important experiment in how regulated digital money is used for institutional cross-border settlement in Asia. But its commercial impact will ultimately depend on whether Japan and South Korea can align regulation with the infrastructure being built.