Kyobo Life and SBI complete Korea-Japan stablecoin test

Kyobo Life and Japan's SBI Group complete cross-border direct conversion pilot: skipping US dollar intermediaries

Kyobo Life of South Korea and Japan's SBI Group recently announced that they have completed a cross-border pilot project. This test enables direct exchange between a representative of a yen-denominated stablecoin and a representative of a Korean won stablecoin, without the need for capital conversion through US dollars throughout the process.

Core Highlights

• Education Insurance Life and SBI tested the direct conversion process of Yen-Korean won stablecoins without going through US dollars.
• The Canton network testing environment handles the entire process of institutional transfer, foreign exchange, settlement, tracking and reconciliation.
• The test used "test tokens" representing Japanese yen and Korean won stablecoins, and no real institutional capital flow occurred during this period.
• Education Insurance Life called the project the first cross-border institutional-level stablecoin test conducted by the Korean insurance industry.
• The two sides plan to further cooperate to open up digital asset exchange, settlement and asset management links between markets.

Pilot details and technical implementation

According to Yonhap News Agency reported on September 17, the project has been jointly promoted by Education Life and SBI Digital Practice since July. The two sides used the Canton Network's test environment to simulate the institutional fund transfer, foreign exchange and settlement process between Japan and South Korea. It should be emphasized that during the demonstration, no actual institutional funds or real stablecoins moved.

此次试点构建了一种交易路径，使得以日元计价的稳定币能够直接兑换为以韩元计价的稳定币。教保生命指出，这种结构避免了传统的“日元兑美元、再兑成韩元”的两步中间转换环节。

为了安全起见，公司在Canton网络内部使用测试代币而非生产环境的真实稳定币。多家媒体报道确认，该活动并未转移真正的稳定币或机构资金，因此其结果仅限于技术和操作层面的演示。教保生命表示，测试涵盖了跨境机构资金流动的完整序列，包括兑换和结算环节，并将其描述为韩国保险公司首次进行的此类端到端稳定币测试。这一说法源自教保生命自身，并非监管机构的正式认定。

在测试期间，双方考察了如何实时检查和追踪交易信息，并测试了接收来自海外的数字资产以及在韩国境内处理相关结算活动的程序。教保生命表示，测试展示了基于稳定币的机构转账在“技术可行性和效率”方面的优势。公司指出，减少货币转换步骤可以缩短处理时间并降低交易成本，但并未公布量化这些节省的具体数据。

Canton网络作为机构测试环境

本次试点运行在Canton网络上。这是一个专为受监管金融机构设计的区块链基础设施，允许在交换资产和结算信息时配置隐私保护和权限控制。

SBI Digital Practice has included Canton as a core part of its institutional blockchain strategy. In July this year, SBI Holdings renamed SBI Security Solutions to SBI Digital Practice and said the subsidiary will focus on building financial infrastructure and applications using Canton Networks. SBI said the restructured department will be committed to financial services on the institutional chain, connecting financial institutions to Canton infrastructure. Its work scope covers settlement, tokenized securities and stablecoin-related projects.

The Canton network has previously appeared in stablecoin tests in other financial fields. For example, Visa and Brale have tested stablecoin settlements on the network to explore whether institutions can complete on-chain settlements without disclosing sensitive transaction information. South Korean financial companies are also exploring the same infrastructure. For example, New Korea Asset Management and New Korea Investment Securities have introduced Canton through cooperation agreements to study the tokenization of South Korean assets and access to overseas markets.

SBI is building an independent stablecoin network between Japan and South Korea

In addition to the pilot project with Education for Life, SBI also announced another independent project in August with South Korean blockchain infrastructure company Nodeinfra-Project Musubi. SBI Digital Practice signed an agreement with Nodeinfra to develop a Japan-South Korea payment network that supports settlement in Japanese yen and Korean won, also based on the Canton network. The company said it will use test tokens initially and then move to regulated commercial stablecoins.

Project Musubi围绕“支付对支付”（Payment-versus-Payment）结算和分布式净额清算设计。SBI数字实践负责连接日本金融机构及现有系统，而Nodeinfra则开发结算协议并支持参与的韩国机构。需要注意的是，Project Musubi与教保生命的演示是两个不同的项目：教保生命测试始于7月，侧重于特定的机构转账模型；而Musubi于8月单独宣布，是一个与Nodeinfra合作的网络开发计划。

日韩稳定币发展现状对比

目前，SBI在日本侧的稳定币基础设施发展领先于韩国国内框架。2026年初，SBI通过SBI新生信托银行推出了日元计价的JPYSC，并已将其应用扩展至借贷和代币化资产倡议。9月7日，SBI表示，支持JPYSC的部分信托资产已开始投资于日本政府债券。

相比之下，韩国仍在制定完整的韩元背书稳定币法律框架。韩国银行倾向于由银行主导发行，而立法者在数字资产法案上仍存在分歧。在此期间，私营部门的探索并未停止。例如，韩国托管商BDAC Shad通过LayerZero扩展了其支持的韩元背书稳定币的技术基础设施。

未来合作展望

教保生命与SBI表示，他们打算探索更多涉及日韩之间数字资产交换和资产管理的项目。虽然双方提到了基于试点中测试的交易结构的可能商业模式，但未给出产品正式上线日期。

双方的关系远超最新的区块链合作。SBI于2026年1月16日完成了对教保生命股份的收购，使其成为权益法核算的关联公司。SBI后来表示，这笔投资在其财年第四季度产生了约674亿日元的廉价购买相关的权益法收益。事实上，两家公司在数字金融领域已有多年合作历史，教保生命的公司记录显示，在当前稳定币测试之前，双方已将合作扩展到代币化证券等其他数字金融领域，且SBI自2007年以来一直维持着对该保险公司的战略性投资关系。

SBI数字实践的Project Musubi目前仍处于测试代币和基础设施开发阶段，其8月的公告也未明确列出金融机构间实时日元-韩元稳定币结算的商业发布日期。