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Japan’s largest domestic card and payments network, JCB, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Circle to explore the use of USDC in cross-border payments and merchant transactions. The agreement focuses first on technical trials for internal fund transfers, while also testing whether stablecoin payments can work at retail locations for international visitors.
JCB and Circle said the initial work will include a proof of concept for using USDC for JCB’s internal cross-border movement of funds. They will also evaluate stablecoin checkout options for merchants in Japan and examine technical approaches aimed at enabling interoperability across multiple blockchain networks. The partners did not outline a timeline for any commercial rollout.
The memorandum of understanding is structured around two near-term lines of inquiry. First, JCB and Circle plan to test how USDC could support cross-border settlement for JCB’s own operational needs—initially framed as internal transfers. In practical terms, this kind of trial is aimed at reducing friction in cross-border movement by using a stablecoin designed to maintain a link to the US dollar.
Second, the partners intend to assess whether stablecoins can be used at the point of sale. The emphasis on merchants in Japan—specifically for international visitors—suggests the project is not only about settlement infrastructure, but also about the customer-facing experience and the operational steps required for merchants to accept payments.
Alongside these payment use cases, JCB and Circle said they will evaluate interoperability-related technologies across multiple blockchain networks. That focus matters because stablecoin liquidity and settlement paths can differ depending on the chain and infrastructure used. Interoperability research, if it bears fruit, could lower the cost and complexity of connecting payment flows to different token and network ecosystems.
This new Circle partnership builds on momentum that JCB already set earlier this year. In January, JCB launched a separate stablecoin payment test with Digital Garage and Resona Holdings, aimed at trialing stablecoin payments at physical stores in Japan. That earlier initiative was described as an effort to identify technical and operational challenges of enabling stablecoin payments for domestic merchants.
What changes with the Circle memorandum is the scope and framing. While the January work centered on domestic store payment trials and problem discovery, the USDC-focused agreement adds a cross-border dimension and introduces a broader look at interoperability and potential infrastructure applications beyond the first proof of concept.
Importantly, both JCB and Circle stopped short of providing a timeline for commercial deployment. For investors and builders, that signals the project may still be in the validation stage—useful for gauging feasibility, but not yet a commitment to near-term production systems.
Circle’s USDC is among the most widely used dollar-backed stablecoins. According to DefiLlama data cited in the original reporting, USDC is the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with a circulating supply of about $73 billion—behind Tether’s USDT at roughly $184 billion.
That market footprint matters for payments pilots because it can support the practical goal of ensuring that stablecoins used for settlement have sufficient liquidity and infrastructure connectivity. While JCB and Circle did not specify which blockchain networks would be involved in the initial cross-border proof of concept, they did indicate they would evaluate technologies for interoperable settlement across networks—an area where USDC’s ecosystem presence may be a key advantage.
The JCB–Circle memorandum arrives as Japan continues to expand stablecoin-related payment experimentation. Earlier this year, reporting indicated that Circle and Nomura were working on a stablecoin-based foreign exchange settlement service for Japanese companies. The concept described in that coverage focused on enabling businesses to convert yen into USDC for cross-border transactions and aiming for near-instant settlement.
Other projects in Japan also point to a broader industry effort to test stablecoin rails across different commercial settings. On Monday, convenience store operator Lawson announced plans to pilot yen-denominated stablecoin payments at a Tokyo location starting in August. Separately, Netstars launched a merchant payment service supporting USDC, USDT, and JPYC, with availability across Solana and Polygon.
Behind these trials is Japan’s legal and policy direction. Japan was among the first major economies to build a stablecoin framework: amendments to the Payment Services Act took effect in 2023, allowing banks, trust companies, and licensed money transfer providers to issue fiat-backed tokens. That regulatory foundation is a key reason pilots can progress from experimental concepts toward implementations that involve regulated participants.
Japan is also moving through wider digital asset reforms. In June, the Lower House passed a bill that would classify crypto assets as financial instruments, a change that could set the stage for additional oversight and market-structure reforms, including bringing more of the sector under stricter rules. While that legislation is not itself a stablecoin payment initiative, it forms part of the same macro trend: regulators seeking clearer definitions and guardrails for token-based finance.
For now, JCB and Circle are positioning their agreement around proofs of concept—internal cross-border fund transfers and merchant acceptance trials—without committing to a launch date. The most important signals to follow are technical: whether interoperability work reduces friction across networks and whether merchant pilots demonstrate operational readiness for real-world payments beyond internal settlement.
This article was originally published as JCB Partners With Circle to Pilot Stablecoin Payments in Japan on Crypto Breaking News – your trusted source for crypto news, Bitcoin news, and blockchain updates.
South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 8.95% on July 13 after an intraday circuit breaker was triggered, with chipmaker SK Hynix dropping more than 15%.
The market shock has raised concerns that a wider risk-off move could spread into US equities and crypto assets already facing pressure from geopolitical tensions and weaker sentiment.
Market data shows that the KOSPI closed at 6,806.93 on Monday after its circuit breaker was activated during trading. In that same session, SK Hynix fell 15.37% to KRW 1.845 million, leaving the stock about 38% below the record high it hit just a couple of weeks ago on June 25.
Hupzy from Spot On Chain described the move as a panic-driven selloff and noted that circuit breakers are uncommon outside periods of severe market stress. The analyst also linked the drop in SK Hynix to a rapid reversal in the artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor trade, warning that weakness in those sectors could affect crypto assets connected to AI narratives.
Recall that even before the selloff, the markets were already dealing with broader uncertainty, with more than $1.5 trillion erased across assets in 10 hours, including Bitcoin (BTC), gold, and silver, as well as other major Asian stock indexes. At the time of writing, BTC had slipped below $63,000, having recovered from an early July drop below $58,000 and briefly going past $64,000 before it lost ground again.
Analyst Ash Crypto blamed the losses on new hostilities between the US and Iran, a possible Bank of Japan yen intervention, and rising bond yields, with Hupzy stating that the sort of shock caused by the KOSPI plunge could push BTC through support if US equities get dragged down by their Asian counterparts.
“For BTC: broadening equity panic puts downside pressure on crypto risk assets,” they wrote on X. “If US markets follow Asia lower, expect crypto selling to intensify. The KOSPI crash is the kind of cross-asset shock that can break correlations and drag BTC below support.”
However, another market watcher, Michaël van de Poppe, posted that Bitcoin’s price action was “holding up well” despite the pressure, saying it had tested the $65,000 area while maintaining support around $61,000. Fellow analyst Ted Pillows warned that the OG crypto needed to hold the $62,500 zone after repeated failures near the $64,500 to $65,000 resistance level, or it could drop below $61,000.
The KOSPI decline has added to concerns about how much support global markets have if selling pressure continues. Hedgie Markets shared data showing that US cash holdings, including money market funds and bank deposits, had fallen to just 0.42 of the S&P 500’s market cap, near the lowest level ever recorded and close to where it sat before the dot-com crash.
The account also noted that while money market funds hold a record $7.95 trillion, the S&P 500 had grown to roughly $69 trillion, so the dry powder looks smaller against the market it needs to cushion.
The post South Korea Stock Crash Could Drag Bitcoin Below Key Support: Analyst appeared first on CryptoPotato.
“We are disappointed by this decision and believe it is unfair to Kalshi,” the company’s legal counsel said on X.
“US Treasury is committed to disrupting and degrading Iran’s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday.
Ethereum staking generated 98% of Bitmine’s revenue last quarter as the company’s pivot from Bitcoin mining gained momentum following its March validator launch.
Coinbase’s Rob Witoff said the company is leaning more on AI to help with execution, but still needs high-agency humans for judgment and strategy.
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