Shinhan, SBI make Japan-Korea tourist spending a test case for yen stablecoins

South Korea’s Shinhan Card announced Wednesday that it signed an agreement with Japan’s SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC to test yen stablecoin payments for travelers and cross-border trade settlement.

Under the pact signed Tuesday, the companies will test stablecoin card payments, wallet-to-wallet payments and cross-border trade settlement. They will also assess anti-money-laundering and fraud-detection controls.

Shinhan Card is one of South Korea’s biggest credit card companies. SBI is a Japanese financial heavyweight that runs banks, brokerages, insurers and crypto exchanges.

The latest initiative is intended to support cross-border payments and settlement between the East Asian nations and improve payment convenience for travelers.

Travel between the two countries generated more than 10 million visitor arrivals in the first eight months of 2026, according to official tourism figures from both countries. South Korea was Japan’s largest source of foreign visitors with 7.42 million arrivals. Japan was its neighbor’s second-largest source with 2.7 million arrivals.

Shinhan Card announced in April that it had completed a proof-of-concept testing that covered stablecoin payments and cross-border settlement.

SBI VC Trade registered in March 2025 as Japan’s first electronic payment instruments exchange service provider, enabling it to handle USDC.