Japanese banks pilot stablecoin-based cross-border payments

Japanese banks MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho are participating in a pilot using stablecoins and the Swift network for cross-border payments.

Progmat, Inc. and Datachain, Inc. have launched „Project Pax,” a collaborative initiative to develop a cross-border stablecoin transfer platform.

The cross-border transfer market reached $182 trillion (approximately ¥28,000 trillion) in 2022. However, the G20 has identified four critical areas—cost, speed, access, and transparency—that require significant improvements. In this market, Progmat and Datachain aim to leverage stablecoins to enable fast, cost-effective, and 24/7 operational cross-border transfers.

Project Pax’s cross-border transfer platform will utilize Swift’s existing API framework for banks to instruct Progmat to settle on blockchain networks, addressing AML/CFT, regulatory compliance, and operational setup challenges, while also considering the difficulties businesses face in using wallets. This enables financial institutions to avoid operational redundancy with fiat currency transfers and minimize investment costs.

The pilot test „Project Pax,” set to commence shortly with a prototype. The initiative aims to expand collaboration to more countries and financial institutions, with a goal of commercializing the platform by 2025.

„As we move towards commercialization, we will gradually expand the number of participating financial institutions and target regions, aiming to establish a global standard for international payment networks using stablecoins.” – Datachain said.

Collaboration Details and Expected Benefits
In Project Pax, Progmat and Datachain will collaborate to develop a cross-border stablecoin transfer platform adapting to Swift’s API mocking/simulation environment.

From its early stages, this platform will be reviewed by financial institutions worldwide. It will enable stablecoin transfers on the blockchain and incorporate globally standardized features. These features will include the transfers of stablecoins across multiple blockchains and the conversion and transfer ofexisting stablecoins.

For cross-chain transactions between different blockchains, the platform will utilize the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol *1, the middleware”LCP *2″ developed by Datachain, the stablecoin contract co-developed by Datachain and Progmat, and liquidity pool provided by TOKI *3, which provides cross-chain infrastructure.

With this platform, enterprise users of stablecoins will be able to make faster and more cost-effective international transfers without needing to be overly conscious of the presence of stablecoins or blockchain technology. This will provide a seamless experience similar to traditional international transfers, and the quantitative effects will be verified and visualized through pilot tests.

For financial institutions, leveraging existing systems eliminates the need to build new infrastructure from scratch, allowing them to offer new transfer options to their corporate clients while minimizing investment.

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Project Pax is not about opposing the current financial system with Web3. Instead, we aim to integratethe strengths of Web3 and blockchain technology into the existing economic system to create a truly sustainable impact. Our goal is to build an environment where everyone can easily and securely access the financial system, addressing global economic disparities and challenges, including those in developingc ountries, and working towards a world of greater PEACE. This initiative serves as a crucial PIECE in achieving these goals. The name „Pax” means PEACE in Latin. We chose „Pax” because we want this initiative to be widely adopted globally, drawing from a word that is the root of many languages.

Progmat is a startup company building digital asset infrastructures that can transform the financial system. With a mission of „Connecting the society with the programmable network and digitizing every value,” Progmat delivers the issuance and administration platform for tokenized securities, stablecoins, and utility tokens, whilepursuing partnerships to expand global use of digital assets. Progmat, as an independent firm backed by several key institutions in national financial markets, also leads digital assets ecosystem across multiple industries by running the Digital Asset Co-Creation Consortium, which has over 200 memberfirms.

Datachain is a blockchain startup founded in 2018 that specializes in blockchain interoperability. Its core products include YUI, a Hyperledger Lab that enables interoperability between multiple heterogeneous blockchains via IBC, and LCP, aproxy for light client verification using TEEs. Datachain is also working on anIBC-enabled cross-chain bridge in partnership with TOKI and are involved in several projects with enterprises, focusing on cross-chain technology.