Ripple Partners SBI and Kyobo Complete Direct Japan-Korea Stablecoin Transfer Pilot

Ripple’s long-term ally SBI Group and latest partner Kyobo Life Insurance completed the Japan-South Korea stablecoin-based cross-border proof-of-concept project. The firms performed a direct transfer between Japanese yen (JPY) and Korean won (KRW) stablecoins without relying on the US dollar as an intermediary currency.

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SBI Group Tested Cross-Border Stablecoin Payment with Kyobo

Japan’s SBI Group and South Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance successfully conducted direct institutional fund transfers between the two countries using JPY and KRW-linked stablecoins. This proof-of-concept project began in July, with Canton Network as the test environment.

The firms verified a direct exchange between the yen stablecoin and the Korean won stablecoin, without needing to first convert to U.S. dollars. Previously, yen had to be converted first into US dollars and then into won, increasing both time and transaction costs.

Ripple’s partners SBI Group and Kyobo Life Insurance used Canton proof-of-concept trials to convert yen stablecoins directly to won stablecoins. They validated the process using test tokens.

Both parties stated that this model is expected to reduce time, and costs, and exchange rate risks in cross-border institutional fund transfers. The project also proved an operational model for safely handling digital assets transferred from overseas and their associated settlement funds domestically.

SBI and Kyobo Life Insurance plan to further cooperate in the Web3 ecosystem, including Japan-South Korea digital asset exchanges, asset management, and new business models based on transaction structures.

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Ripple’s Expanding Deeper into Asia Markets

Financial infrastructure and blockchain payments firm Ripple continued to push into Asia markets, especially Japan and South Korea. The region has seen growing adoption and regulatory developments as demand for cross-border payments, custody, and tokenization rises.

Ripple and SBI have collaborated since 2016. Recently, the firms partnered to launch RLUSD stablecoin in Japan. SBI Holdings has a 9% shareholding in Ripple worth $41.2 billion, playing a key part in XRP and XRP Ledger ecosystems.

Meanwhile, Ripple and Kyobo announced a partnership to pilot tokenized Korean government bond settlement on Ripple Custody and to assess stablecoin payment rails.

To scale these operations beyond testing phases, financial institutions rely on the industry’s leading stablecoin settlement platforms to handle multi-jurisdictional currency conversions.