JPYC misses first-year target with 3.2 billion yen in circulation

JPYC held 3.2 billion yen, about $20 million, in circulation on Oct. 23, roughly a quarter of the target its issuer set for the yen-backed token's first year, according to Nikkei figures reported by CoinDesk.

Cumulative issuance reached 12.1 billion yen, Nikkei reported, and the gap between the two figures reflects tokens that have since been redeemed.

For institutions planning yen-denominated settlement, the constraint is throughput: JPYC caps issuance at 1 million yen per request, widened in May from 1 million yen a day, and still restricts rapid repeat transactions. The limit stems from Japan's Type II funds-transfer rules. Asteria, a software company that plans to hold 1 billion yen of JPYC, has had to build its position in installments, which works out to roughly 1,000 requests at the current cap.

Circulation briefly topped 4.2 billion yen in September after South Korean exchange Upbit listed JPYC, pushing its market price above 1 yen and drawing traders who minted new tokens to capture the arbitrage. Okabe estimated that about 35 billion yen changed hands across Upbit and Uniswap in a single day. Circulation then fell back to around 3 billion yen.

"Frankly, I don't think it's growing," Okabe told NADA NEWS in an interview cited by CoinDesk. He described trading volume as "not bad" but said he was not satisfied with the amount in circulation, and attributed the shortfall in part to the issuance cap.

JPYC is backed by bank deposits and Japanese government bonds, and the issuer earns interest on those reserves, so revenue tracks float rather than turnover. A thin float means less potential interest income, which makes the September spike and its reversal a poor guide to the issuer's economics.

Okabe wants circulation to reach tens of billions of yen in JPYC's second year, roughly a tenfold increase from current levels. Japan's Financial Services Agency is reviewing stablecoin rules and expects a roadmap in early 2027.