SBI Digital Practice and South Korea-based Nodeinfra are teaming up to develop a cross-border payment and settlement network connecting Japan and South Korea using infrastructure from the Canton Network.
The companies announced a memorandum of understanding on August 7 for the initiative, named Project Musubi. The proposed network is intended to make Japan-Korea currency settlements faster and more efficient by enabling the two sides of a transaction to settle simultaneously on a shared blockchain-based infrastructure.
However, the project remains in its development and testing stage. The initial phase will use yen- and won-denominated test tokens, rather than commercially issued stablecoins.
Project Musubi Targets Cross-Border Settlement Friction
One of the key objectives of Project Musubi is to reduce the reliance on the U.S. dollar as an intermediary in certain Japan-South Korea transactions.
Under conventional settlement structures, a currency transaction between the yen and won can involve an intermediate dollar-based process. This can introduce additional steps, costs and settlement risks.
SBI and Nodeinfra are proposing an alternative model in which the two sides of a currency exchange can settle simultaneously through the Canton Network.
The architecture is expected to incorporate atomic payment-versus-payment settlement, distributed peer netting and member-based governance.
Atomic settlement is particularly important for cross-border payments because it is designed to ensure that both sides of a transaction are completed together. This can reduce the risk that one participant delivers its funds while the counterparty fails to complete the corresponding payment.
Initial Network Will Use Test Tokens
The first stage of Project Musubi will not involve live commercial stablecoins.
Instead, SBI Digital Practice and Nodeinfra plan to use a yen-denominated test token and a won-denominated test token to evaluate the network’s technology and settlement processes.
The companies intend to transition toward regulated stablecoins once the necessary legal and regulatory frameworks are established in both countries.
No commercial launch date has been announced, and the companies have not identified specific banks, exchanges or payment providers that will participate in the initial testing.
This distinction is important because Project Musubi is currently a proposed infrastructure project rather than an operational stablecoin payment network.
Its success will depend not only on technical development but also on regulatory approval, institutional participation and the availability of compliant stablecoins in both markets.
SBI Will Connect Japanese Financial Infrastructure
Under the proposed structure, SBI Digital Practice will focus on developing the integration layers needed to connect existing Japanese financial systems to the new network.
The company also plans to leverage relationships across the wider SBI Group to support the onboarding of Japanese financial institutions and other participants.
Nodeinfra will take responsibility for the core settlement protocol, Daml smart contracts and developer tools, while also supporting the participation of Korean financial institutions and custodians.
The division of responsibilities gives the project a combination of financial-sector integration on the Japanese side and blockchain infrastructure development on the Korean side.
SBI Already Has a Yen Stablecoin Infrastructure
SBI enters the project with experience developing yen-denominated digital assets.
In June, the group launched JPYSC through SBI Shinsei Trust Bank, describing it as Japan’s first trust-type yen stablecoin.
SBI said JPYSC entered circulation in Japan on June 24, with SBI VC Trade handling its primary distribution.
However, the Project Musubi announcement does not state that JPYSC will be used during the project’s initial testing phase.
Ryo Shimotsu, representative director of SBI Digital Practice, said the company intends to connect Project Musubi with SBI’s broader onchain financial infrastructure.
That could eventually create a pathway for existing SBI digital-asset infrastructure to interact with cross-border settlement systems, although the specific technical and regulatory structure has yet to be finalized.
SBI Digital Practice itself is also relatively new in its current form. SBI renamed its former SBI Security Solutions subsidiary in June as part of a strategic shift toward institutional onchain finance.
The company has increasingly focused on infrastructure supporting blockchain-based financial activity across multiple countries and currencies.
South Korean Regulation Remains a Major Dependency
The development of Project Musubi is closely tied to South Korea’s evolving digital-asset regulatory framework.
South Korean policymakers are working on legislation covering the issuance and circulation of digital assets under a broader Digital Asset Basic Act framework.
Important provisions remain under discussion, meaning the regulatory environment for won-denominated stablecoins and related financial infrastructure is not yet fully established.
That uncertainty helps explain why the project is beginning with test tokens rather than immediately deploying commercial stablecoins.
SBI and Nodeinfra have indicated that regulated stablecoins could eventually replace the test assets once the respective regulatory frameworks allow their use.
However, the companies have not identified a Korean stablecoin issuer or provided a timetable for moving from testing into commercial operations.
Canton Network Could Become the Settlement Layer
The project also highlights the growing role of blockchain infrastructure in institutional financial markets.
Rather than positioning the initiative as a consumer-facing cryptocurrency product, SBI and Nodeinfra are focusing on using distributed-ledger technology as infrastructure connecting regulated financial institutions.
Canton Network is designed for institutional applications and can support financial assets, transactions and settlement processes across participating organizations.
For Project Musubi, the objective is to use that infrastructure to create a more direct settlement mechanism between Japanese and Korean financial markets.
If successful, the model could eventually be expanded beyond a single currency corridor.
Expansion Beyond Japan and South Korea
SBI and Nodeinfra have indicated that their long-term vision extends beyond the Japan-Korea corridor.
The partners eventually want Project Musubi to support additional currencies, jurisdictions and asset classes.
Such expansion could potentially turn the project from a bilateral settlement network into a broader institutional cross-border financial infrastructure.
However, that remains a future objective rather than a confirmed rollout.
The immediate priorities are considerably more practical: completing the technical testing, connecting financial institutions, validating the settlement architecture and establishing the regulatory conditions necessary for commercial stablecoin use.
What Happens Next
Project Musubi is currently at an early development stage, with the first phase centered on testing yen- and won-denominated digital tokens.
The next major milestones will be the completion of technical testing, onboarding of regulated financial institutions and greater clarity around stablecoin regulation in Japan and South Korea.
If those conditions are met, the project could eventually move from test tokens to regulated stablecoins and establish a blockchain-based settlement corridor between the two economies.
For SBI, the initiative represents another step toward building institutional onchain financial infrastructure. For South Korea’s Nodeinfra, it provides an opportunity to connect Korean financial institutions to a cross-border settlement network built around Canton.
The broader ambition is significant, but the project’s immediate challenge is straightforward: prove that regulated, simultaneous yen-won settlement can work reliably before expanding the model to additional currencies and markets.
