Japan’s Financial Services Agency, the country’s markets regulator working alongside other major public bodies, is laying the groundwork for a blockchain-powered settlement system designed to enable instant clearing of stock and Japanese government bond transactions, according to a report by the Nikkei newspaper.
According to Investing.Com, the Financial Services Agency, the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan and a number of financial institutions are set to form a study group this summer to explore the initiative. The group is anticipated to put together a development plan from around the start of 2027 at the earliest, marking the first formal step towards building the infrastructure.
The study group’s remit will stretch across several strands of the project, including determining the technical architecture of the blockchain network itself, agreeing how responsibilities should be divided between the participating agencies and institutions, and mapping out a broader road map to guide subsequent phases of work.
Should the proposals gain formal sign-off, operations could get under way within a handful of years, with a full launch pencilled in for sometime in the early 2030s. The ambition does not stop at domestic markets either, as the instant payment mechanism is also being considered as a tool to support cross-border remittances.
The push towards blockchain-based settlement stands in contrast to the current process in Japan, where stock trades are settled in cash two days after execution, while government bond transactions clear a day after the trade takes place. A shift to instant settlement would represent a marked acceleration from these existing timelines.
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
