SBI Holdings and Kyobo Life pilot stablecoin transfers between Japan and South Korea

SBI Holdings, through its subsidiary SBI Digital Practice, and Kyobo Life Insurance have completed a cross-border stablecoin pilot designed to test institutional transactions between Japan and South Korea, according to a recent statement.

SBI Digital Practice is a Tokyo-based SBI Group company focused on bringing blockchain-based financial infrastructure to regulated institutions through the Canton Network. The company also works on cross-border and cross-currency transaction systems, including settlement, foreign exchange, tokenized securities and stablecoins.

Using the Canton Network’s test environment, the companies simulated the full process from transferring a yen-denominated stablecoin representation to exchanging it for a won-denominated representation and completing the settlement.

The proof of concept covered institutional fund transfers, foreign-exchange conversion and settlement, with test tokens used in a blockchain test environment rather than actual funds or production stablecoins.

The companies said the test was designed to address the time and cost involved in conventional international transfers, which can require multiple financial institutions and currency conversions.

The pilot also examined how transaction information could be tracked and reconciled and how Kyobo Life could securely receive and manage digital assets and related settlement funds from overseas. The companies said the model could eventually support more efficient cross-border financial transactions once the necessary regulations and infrastructure are in place.

SBI Digital Practice and Kyobo Life plan to use the pilot as a basis for further cooperation in the digital-asset sector, including potential links between digital-asset exchange and asset management and the development of new financial business models.