According to the sources, China’s cabinet will review a roadmap charting a stablecoin strategy for the country, which represents a marked U-turn from China’s traditionally hardline stance against digital assets.

Hong Kong and Shanghai are expected to fast-track rollouts, which will be made easier given Hong Kong’s passing of a landmark Stablecoins Bill on 21 May. 

This comes shortly after announcements of a yen-backed stablecoin from Japan, which regulators are likely to approve as soon as October. 

The Japanese fintech startup JPYC Inc. will be issuing the stablecoin, which is to be called ‘JPYC’. On Monday 18 August, JPYC Inc. was approved by the Financial Services Agency as a funds transfer provider qualified to issue stablecoins.

JPYC Inc. plans to sell 1 trillion yen’s ($68 billion) worth of JPYC within the next three years. The stablecoin will be pegged at a 1:1 ratio to the yen, and backed by highly liquid assets (which including government bonds, which have seen a dip in demand in Japan).

These developments in East Asia are placed to disrupt dollar-backed stablecoin tokens, which currently account for around 99% of stablecoin market capitalisation.

Although investors increasingly look to stablecoins for their relative stability compared with traditional cryptocurrencies, fragmented regulation and legacy infrastructure are holding back wholesale adoption. Nonetheless, the industry is estimated to swell to $4 trillion by 2030 – more than 30 times its current size.

The assurance in stablecoins which these payment giants have provided compounds the progress made with the recent US GENIUS Act towards regulatory unison as the world inches towards a more digitalised future.