Ripple and SBI Group have officially launched RLUSD in Japan after receiving approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency. The dollar-backed stablecoin is now available through SBI VC Trade, the licensed crypto arm of SBI Group, giving both retail and institutional users in Japan access through the VCTRADE platform.
Ripple said the approval places RLUSD under Japan’s Payment Services Act as a new category of electronic payment instrument for foreign-issued stablecoins. That gives the company a regulated path into one of Asia’s most tightly supervised digital asset markets, while SBI VC Trade adds a US dollar stablecoin product to a platform already serving Japanese crypto users.
Japan rollout completes a plan announced in 2025
Ripple and SBI first laid out the Japan launch in August 2025 through a memorandum of understanding. Under that agreement, SBI VC Trade was named the local distribution partner and the companies set an early 2026 target for market entry. The live launch now completes that plan.
SBI VC Trade already holds the local license required to operate in Japan, giving Ripple a direct route into the market under the country’s stablecoin rules. Japan’s Payment Services Act has created a defined legal path for stablecoins, a framework that has drawn attention from global issuers looking for regulated access.
Ripple positions RLUSD for payments, tokenization, and collateral
Ripple has described RLUSD as a US dollar stablecoin designed for payments, tokenized assets, and collateral management. The company said RLUSD has reached a market value of $1.7 billion since its launch in late 2024.
Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, said the Japan launch expands access to “transparent, regulated USD-backed stablecoins.” He said RLUSD can support payments, tokenization, and collateral management for businesses and users. SBI VC Trade CEO Tomohiko Kondo called the rollout a major step in the long partnership between Ripple and SBI Group, adding that the companies plan to broaden RLUSD-related services and develop more customer use cases.
Japan adds to RLUSD’s broader international push
The Japan debut follows other recent RLUSD market entries. Earlier in June, Ripple made RLUSD available to institutional users in Türkiye through BiLira, Bitexen, and Bitlo. With Japan now added, the stablecoin’s distribution map in Asia is getting wider.
Its network footprint has also been expanding. According to the source material, RLUSD previously moved beyond its initial support on XRP Ledger and Ethereum and expanded across more than 40 blockchain networks through Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers framework, including several Ethereum layer-2 networks. In a separate institutional setup tied to a tokenized Treasury settlement test on XRP Ledger, RLUSD also served as part of the cash settlement layer.
The Ripple-SBI relationship dates back to 2016, when the two companies began working together on digital asset and blockchain-based finance in Japan and the broader Asia-Pacific region. This latest move shifts the focus from cross-border payment rails to regulated stablecoin access inside the Japanese market.
RLUSD has entered Japan with regulatory clearance in place. Its actual traction there will depend on liquidity, pricing, and demand from Japanese users, institutions, and businesses for dollar-based digital settlement.