Japanese stocks are heading onchain, and one of the country's largest financial conglomerates is leading the charge. Ondo Finance, the largest tokenizer of stocks globally, and SBI Group, one
Japanese stocks are heading onchain, and one of the country's largest financial conglomerates is leading the charge.
Ondo Finance, the largest tokenizer of stocks globally, and SBI Group, one of Japan's biggest financial conglomerates, announced a strategic partnership on July 16 to bring Japanese equities onchain and connect Japan's capital markets to the global tokenized economy.
"Japan is one of the most sophisticated capital markets in the world, and SBI sits at the center of it," said Ian De Bode, CEO of Ondo Finance.
"This collaboration creates a path to bring Japanese assets onchain and to connect Japan with the global tokenized economy."
The two companies plan to work together across four areas.
Japanese assets will be tokenized and issued onchain through Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Limited.
SBI's yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYSC, will be used for settlement and as collateral on Ondo's tokenized assets.
Ondo's tokenized products will be distributed through SBI Group's existing ecosystem, giving them direct access to SBI's customer base.
And both companies plan to cross-promote each other's products across their respective channels and partners.
In simple terms, this means investors within SBI's ecosystem could soon gain access to tokenized versions of Japanese stocks, settled using a stablecoin pegged to the yen rather than the U.S. dollar, a notable shift, since most tokenized asset activity today settles in dollar-based stablecoins.
Japan holds one of the most developed capital markets in the world, and SBI Group operates at the center of it, spanning banking, brokerage, and asset management.
For Ondo, gaining a foothold there through an established local partner offers a faster path to Japanese investors than attempting to build that access independently.
SBI framed the partnership as part of a broader ambition to build global infrastructure for digital assets.
"Ondo Finance has established itself as a global leader in the tokenization of real-world assets and is at the forefront of the tokenized equities market," said Yoshitaka Kitao, Representative Director, Chairman, President and CEO of SBI Holdings.
"We believe Ondo will be a key strategic partner as SBI Group forms a global corridor for digital assets, and we look forward to rapidly advancing a wide range of initiatives together."
The partnership sits alongside a broader trend of major financial institutions moving to tokenize traditional assets rather than treating blockchain infrastructure as a separate, competing system.
For Ondo, it extends the company's tokenization model into a major Asian market. For SBI, it offers a way to give its customers exposure to tokenized products without having to build that infrastructure from scratch.
Together, the two companies say they aim to build a bridge between Japan's capital markets and the global tokenized economy, expanding access to Japanese assets for investors worldwide while laying the groundwork for yen-denominated settlement onchain.
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