Stablecoin

Japan's crypto market is moving away from retail-led speculation as regulators tighten frameworks aimed at institutional use. In 2025, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) said exchange accounts exceeded 12 million and custody assets surpassed $31 billion (¥5 trillion) as of January 2025, while a February 2026 working-group proposal backed bringing crypto under securities-style oversight.

April 7 marks the opening of Tokyo’s Teamz Summit, where policymakers and industry figures are debating whether Japan can grow into a more institution-ready crypto hub. Regulators point to scale already in place, including more than 12 million exchange accounts and over $31 billion in custodial user assets by end-January 2025, alongside about $10 billion in February 2026 spot volume. The thesis is that Tokyo’s advantage may come less from speculation and more from compliant rails, as the FSA considers a 2026 shift of cryptoassets toward FIEA-style oversight.

In his April 6, 2026 shareholder letter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon positioned blockchain, stablecoins and tokenization as core competitive priorities for the bank. The letter points to blockchain-native rivals and highlights existing efforts such as Kinexys, JPM Coin, and MONY, a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum launched in December 2025 with $100 million in bank capital.

On April 7, 2026, Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone said stablecoins could drive a major 'flippening,' with Tether's AUM potentially surpassing Ethereum in 2026 and later Bitcoin. He also warned Bitcoin may revisit much lower levels, citing a possible move toward $10,000 by 2026 and arguing that broad risk-market weakness and higher volatility could pressure crypto prices.

Sui is highlighting new catalysts including AI MemWal in Sui Wallet and the planned mainnet rollout of USDsui in mid-April, alongside signs of rising on-chain activity. SUI was at $0.8692 (06:48 UTC), down 0.24%, while data points cited in the report include TVL above $1.35 billion and daily DEX volume between $280 million and $320 million. The token remains range-bound near support, with indicators and flows described as improving into a potential move above $0.95.

Crypto’s Q1 2026 downturn coincided with a 1.6% decline in USDT while the total market cap slid 20.8%, suggesting capital left the market rather than waiting on the sidelines. In April, Ethereum-led stablecoin activity picked up, including a near 2.6% monthly increase in USDT issuance volume on ETH and a $10.3 billion monthly stablecoin supply change on Ethereum. The shift has fueled debate over whether these inflows can help establish support and improve Q2 momentum.

Japan revised its Payment Services Act in June 2023 and continued updates through 2026, positioning fiat-pegged stablecoins as regulated payment instruments mainly for institutional use. The framework supports a three-tier issuer model, while Project Pax backed by MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho aims for 1 trillion yen in B2B stablecoin issuance by 2028. Milestones cited include JPYC receiving a Type II license in October 2025 and JPYSC being announced in late 2025 with a Q2 2026 target.

DeFi recorded $169 million in losses across 34 protocols in Q1, with incidents including a $40 million key compromise and Resolv's $24.5 million breach. While many current attacks focus on access control and key management, Circle is moving early on post-quantum cryptography, as networks face slow upgrade cycles and address-reuse exposure.

Ethena said on April 6, 2026 that it plans to broaden the reserve mix backing its USDe synthetic dollar token to reduce concentration risk. The protocol is finalizing overcollateralized stablecoin lending deals with Anchorage Digital, Maple Institutional, and Coinbase Asset Management, while also proposing additional RWA exposures and basis strategies beyond BTC and ETH perps.

Coinbase said it will support the DAI-to-USDS migration, with an automated conversion scheduled between 4 May and 6 May 2026 at an approximate 1:1 ratio. The exchange will disable DAI trading on 4 May, pause deposits and withdrawals from 4–6 May, and convert eligible balances with no fees, while excluding users in certain EEA jurisdictions.