SBI VC Trade will open applications on July 16 for JPYSC Lending, a product that pays holders of the yen-backed stablecoin JPYSC an initial 3% annual rate to lend the token to the exchange, marking the first trust-type yen stablecoin lending service in Japan.
The exchange, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, will run the service on its VCTRADE platform, with lending starting July 23. Customers lend their JPYSC to the company and earn a fee in return, extending SBI’s stablecoin push beyond payments. The service arrives weeks after SBI Group launched JPYSC as Japan’s first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin, issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and free of the 1 million yen cap that held back earlier fund-transfer-type tokens.
How JPYSC Lending Turns Idle Yen Into Yield
JPYSC Lending works as a simple loan over a fixed 12-week term. Holders hand their JPYSC to SBI VC Trade, which pays a fee set by the size and length of the loan, then returns the full amount plus the fee at the end of the term. The exchange approves applications in the order they arrive, and holders cannot pull out early once a loan is set.
The opening 3% rate marks the launch and sits well above the 0.325% to 1% that SBI VC Trade cites for a normal yen time deposit. Once the launch period ends, the exchange expects to pay between 1% and 3% on the same 12-week term, with the rate moving as the market and demand shift. SBI and Singapore’s Startale Group first unveiled JPYSC in February as a settlement token for on-chain finance, and the lending service now adds a way to earn on it, which the company casts as a fresh option for growing yen savings.
JPYSC Lending Carries Risks Bank Doesn’t
The two products face very different tax treatment, with a yen time deposit taxed at a flat 20.315% no matter what a person earns, while money from JPYSC Lending is added to their other income and taxed at whatever rate that income falls under. Holders who keep that income under 200,000 yen a year and meet certain conditions can skip a tax return, though anyone above the line can owe as much as 55.945% once national and local taxes are added. That split mirrors a wider debate in Tokyo, where lawmakers are pushing to reform crypto taxes and give yen-backed stablecoins more room against dollar rivals.
JPYSC Lending also carries none of the safeguards attached to a bank deposit. It is not covered by deposit insurance, and the JPYSC the exchange borrows is not kept separate from its own funds under the Fund Settlement Act, so lenders could lose part or all of what they lend if the company fails. Holders also give up the right to sell, move, or pledge the token while the contract runs, and the company stresses that JPYSC is not the yen itself and carries no government guarantee. SBI VC Trade will run two prize draws handing out JPYSC, days after its parent led a $76 million round for institutional exchange EDX Markets.