WebX2026 unveils session on Japan’s yen stablecoin debut year

WebX2026 opened in Tokyo on July 13 with a video address from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who said the CoinPost-hosted event was expected to draw about 15,000 participants and framed it as a venue for founders, investors and companies to build practical blockchain businesses. She linked Japan’s Web3 development to the government’s wider startup strategy, saying policy support and industry events can help create business partnerships and expand investor access for startups nationwide. Takaichi pointed to the Comprehensive Startup Support Package prepared in May 2025, which builds on the Five-Year Startup Development Plan adopted in 2022 and aims to lift annual startup investment to about 10 trillion yen by fiscal 2027, alongside longer-term targets of 100 unicorns and 100,000 startups. The package calls for more capital from government-backed funds and financial institutions and includes regulatory changes meant to help young companies grow, hire and reach larger markets. The conference, running July 13–14 at The Prince Park Tower Tokyo, is also featuring a session on what it calls the first year of yen stablecoins in Japan. A WebX2026 session report said key figures from two projects representing Japan’s yen stablecoin market appeared together on the Binance stage on July 14: JPYC Representative Director Noritaka Okabe, SBIVC Trade Representative Director and President Tomohiko Kondo, and Startale Group CEO Sota Watanabe, with CoinPost Representative Director and President as moderator. Speakers discussed JPYC and JPYSC, with the latter previously described by the conference as the domestically first trust-based yen-denominated stablecoin jointly developed by SBI Holdings and Startale. The panel reflects Japan’s broader effort to build digital payment infrastructure while testing different issuance and settlement models for yen-linked tokens. On the Binance stage on July 13, Digital Minister and Cybersecurity Minister Nao Matsumoto outlined Japan’s digital growth strategy under the Takaichi administration, highlighting a public-private investment plan spanning 17 sectors and totaling ¥370 trillion. He said the plan focuses on AI sovereignty, government AI deployment and stronger public-private cybersecurity cooperation. Takaichi’s remarks added to a broader policy backdrop that also includes a crypto bill reported in June that could apply a 20% tax rate to crypto gains and open a path for domestic crypto exchange-traded funds, with the tax provisions potentially starting in 2028. Private-sector support has also expanded, with Ripple and Web3 Salon launching grants of up to $200,000 for selected Japanese teams building on the XRP Ledger in areas including payments, tokenized assets and decentralized finance. Takaichi said government measures and WebX could jointly encourage new projects and that Japan’s innovation ecosystem would develop further, while leaving detailed implementation to ministries, regulators and financial institutions.