🇯🇵 Japanese financial giant SBI partners with Solana Foundation to build on-chain financial market in Japan.

SBI and Solana Foundation Join Forces on On-Chain Finance

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings has announced a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation to jointly develop an on-chain financial market in Japan. The collaboration will see the Solana Foundation join SBI R3 Japan, working alongside existing shareholders SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) to pursue a new growth strategy.

As part of the agreement, the Solana Foundation will acquire a stake in SBI R3 Japan, and the company plans to change its name to SBI Solana Global Co., Ltd.

SBI highlighted the rapid global expansion of stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, describing on-chain finance as the next generation of financial infrastructure, where the issuance, distribution, and settlement of financial assets all occur on the blockchain. The firm cited Solana's appeal directly: "Solana is regarded as one of the core infrastructures for on-chain finance, based on its high processing performance, low costs, and global ecosystem," adding that its goal is "to connect Japan's financial assets and institutional foundation with Solana's global network."

Scope of the Deal: Stablecoins, RWAs, and Cross-Border Payments

The partnership combines SBI's experience in operating permissioned networks through its R3 Corda platform with Solana's high-performance blockchain technology, with the main objective being to accelerate blockchain adoption among traditional financial institutions and facilitate the onboarding of tokenized real assets.

Specific focus areas include yen-backed stablecoins, the tokenization of bonds, funds, and real estate as real-world assets, cross-border payment infrastructure, and on-chain financial services for institutional investors. The two parties aim to expand products developed in Japan first across Asia, and then into global markets.

The announcement is the latest in a series of moves by SBI to deepen its presence in the digital asset space. SBI Holdings' subsidiary B2C2, a core market maker for firms including Robinhood, recently designated Solana as its primary network for routing and settling large-scale stablecoin transactions for institutional clients. SBI Holdings took a majority ownership position in B2C2 in 2020.

The deal also reflects Japan's broader push to position itself as a hub for on-chain finance in Asia, with government support playing a role. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has announced a policy to expand funding from the government and financial institutions for startups, including those in the Web3 sector, introducing a Total Support Package for Startups established in May 2025 at the WebX 2026 conference.

Sources:
CoinNess: SBI Holdings and Solana Foundation Strategic Partnership
The Block: SBI Holdings' B2C2 Designates Solana as Primary Stablecoin Network