Japan’s Minna Bank Explores Stablecoins on Solana in Fireblocks-Led Study

Minna Bank, Japan’s first digital-only bank and a subsidiary of Fukuoka Financial Group, announced Thursday it is exploring the use of stablecoins and digital wallets to support everyday financial services and payments in the country.

The initiative is part of a joint study in collaboration with Fireblocks, Solana Japan, and Japanese tech firm TIS, aiming to assess the practical applications of stablecoins and decentralized wallets in real-world banking.

The study will examine use cases including cross-border payments, real-world asset trading, and day-to-day digital payments, according to a statement shared with Decrypt.

It will also examine the technical feasibility of issuing stablecoins on the Solana blockchain and evaluate how Web3 wallets can provide more intuitive financial experiences for users.

The move comes as digital assets whose values are pegged to fiat currencies and commodities are experiencing a surge in interest and adoption. 

CEX.IO, a London-based crypto exchange founded in 2013, said a recent survey of 2,600 users found that stablecoins are increasingly being used for everyday financial activities, with 69% of respondents using them more frequently than a year ago and 54% citing lower fees than traditional banks or money transfer services.

With stablecoins collectively topping $250 billion, financial institutions are ramping up efforts to implement them for purposes ranging from international settlements to tokenized deposits. 

Countries such as the U.S. are racing to establish stablecoin legislation, while Hong Kong’s rules are set to take effect next month. In South Korea, traditional financial institutions have begun launching their own stablecoin initiatives. 

Japan is following suit, with major players like SMBC also experimenting in the space.

However, Stephen Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer and head of banking at Fireblocks, said Japan’s needs differ from those in the U.S.

“There’s a bigger and heavier emphasis on things like corporate and transnational banking,” he told Decrypt in an interview. “Japan has a lot of trade, and trade is made more effective by the easy and efficient movement of money.”

Enthusiasm has stemmed from the prospect of stablecoins offering a cheaper alternative to current international banking rails, although whether this will truly be the case remains to be seen. 

For countries like China, the promotion of stablecoins in international trade supports their policies of de-dollarization, as they aim to shift international trade from its current reliance on the U.S. dollar to settlements in local currencies. 

Others, such as Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang, have dismissed stablecoins as yet another crypto fad. 

Fireblocks’ Richardson acknowledged the buzz around stablecoins, but argued that their utility sets them apart from past hyped-up crypto products. He compared developments in making money programmable to the creation of smartphones or LLMs. 

He predicted that the most successful stablecoin applications would become invisible to the end user. “You won’t even know that you’re utilizing a stablecoin,” he said.

“What matters is that all of a sudden, you’ll see a benefit in the way that you move money or how you can allocate money, or how you can interact and program money. That’s where the enthusiasm is coming from compared to NFTs or other things.”

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair