Japan
ABMedia
Japan's FSA Studies Tokenized Stocks, Finds US DTCC Model Hard to Apply Under Its Book-Entry Transfer System
- The study group—chaired by University of Tokyo emeritus professor Hideki Kanda—stems from the FSA's July 21 growth-investment strategy and will also review stablecoin frameworks and DeFi/wallet risk controls, with a related forum's second meeting expected in early 2027; Nomura Holdings and Securitize Japan gave presentations, with the Bank of Japan, Japan Exchange Group, and Japan Securities Depository Center (JASDEC) attending.
- Under Japan's book-entry (furikae) system, JASDEC and the Bank of Japan record securities ownership directly for investors, unlike DTCC's indirect model where DTCC is the nominal holder; the FSA flagged that Article 12(2) of Japan's Book-Entry Transfer Act restricts transfer institutions from opening the kind of 'digital omnibus account' DTCC uses to mint tokens, which DTCC plans to launch in October 2026 following a 2025 SEC no-action letter.
- Separately, the FSA's Payment Innovation Project (PIP), launched November 2025, is backing an on-chain securities settlement pilot (approved February 13, 2026) with Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, and Japan's three megabank groups testing delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement using stablecoins, building on Mizuho's (April) and MUFG's (August) pilots tokenizing Japanese government bond repo transactions.