JPYC, Japan’s leading yen stablecoin, finished its first year with 3.2 billion yen in circulation, about $20 million, as of 23 October, according to Nikkei figures cited by CoinDesk. That is roughly a quarter of the target, which the report implies without stating.
Cumulative issuance was 12.1 billion yen, so most of what was minted has since been redeemed. DeFiLlama’s figure of about $20.85 million is close to Nikkei’s.
The one real surge came in September, when an Upbit listing pushed the price above one yen and arbitrage minting took circulation past 4.2 billion yen. About 35 billion yen changed hands across Upbit and Uniswap in a day. Circulation then slid back to roughly 3 billion.
Chief executive Noritaka Okabe says he does not think the token is growing and is not satisfied, though he calls trading volume not bad. He blames a one million yen issuance limit under Japan’s Type II funds-transfer rules, which was changed in May to apply per request but still restricts rapid repeat transactions.
Software firm Asteria plans to hold 1 billion yen in JPYC but has had to build the balance in instalments. Reserves sit in bank deposits and government bonds, so the issuer’s interest income shrinks with circulation.
Okabe wants tens of billions of yen next year, about ten times the present level.
Whether the cap can be eased is for regulators, and the Financial Services Agency’s stablecoin review is not expected to produce a roadmap until early 2027.
