At a glance

  • BlackRock has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SBI Holdings and Startale Group to explore connecting tokenised money market funds with JPYSC, a yen stablecoin, the companies said in Tokyo on Tuesday.
  • The MoU sets up a study across three areas: technology and infrastructure, business and distribution, and regulation and market development. No product, size or launch date was announced.
  • Separately, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Monday it had approved, for the first time, trading of tokenised public funds between investors on a licensed virtual asset trading platform, starting with two ChinaAMC money market funds.

The BlackRock side of the MoU is BlackRock Financial Management and BlackRock Japan. SBI Holdings is the Japanese financial group behind JPYSC, and Startale is the blockchain company that worked with it on the coin, according to the release. The Block also reported the agreement.

A tokenised money market fund is a fund that invests in short-term debt and records its shares on a blockchain. A stablecoin is a token that tracks a currency. Linking the two would, in principle, let holders move between a yield-earning fund and yen without leaving the chain.

CryptoWatchDesk has not seen the MoU. The companies did not say which BlackRock fund, or which blockchain, would be involved.

What JPYSC is

JPYSC is issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and sold through SBI VC Trade. It launched on 24 June, The Block reported at the time, and could at first be held only inside SBI VC Trade accounts, according to the exchange’s product page.

“Trust-type” refers to a category created when Japan amended its Payment Services Act to regulate stablecoins. SBI chairman Yoshitaka Kitao called JPYSC “Japan’s first trust-type yen-denominated stablecoin” in the release.

“By working with SBI Group and Startale, two partners at the forefront of Japan’s financial industry and the onchain ecosystem, we aim to explore the potential of JPYSC and tokenized money market funds,” said Yukiko Hashimoto, president of BlackRock Japan.

The companies said the collaboration is meant to be open to other financial institutions and businesses, in Japan and abroad.

Why it matters: the world’s largest asset manager is putting its name to a yen leg for tokenised funds. Until now most of that activity has run on dollar stablecoins, as with JPMorgan’s tokenised money market funds on Solana.

Hong Kong goes first on trading

The SFC said secondary trading began on Monday in the ChinaAMC HKD Digital Money Market Fund and the ChinaAMC USD Digital Money Market Fund, both already authorised for sale to the public, according to its press release. The release did not name the platform.

Secondary trading means investors buy and sell fund units with each other on a venue, rather than only subscribing to and redeeming from the fund manager. The SFC set the rules in a circular on 20 April covering pricing, liquidity provision and disclosure.

“It puts the SFC’s regulatory framework through its paces and adds an important building block – 24/7 trading capability – to Hong Kong’s evolving tokenisation ecosystem,” said Elisa Ng, the SFC’s executive director of investment products.

The regulator said it may widen the range of products later. It also linked the step to Project Ensemble, its tokenisation work with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

Why it matters: a fund that trades at 3 a.m. can serve as cash collateral at any hour, which is the same use case the Tokyo MoU is exploring.

What’s still unclear

The Japanese companies gave no timetable, and an MoU does not commit anyone to launch. The SFC did not publish trading volumes or say how many platforms may list the funds.

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This article is for information only and is not investment advice.