SBI Backs Singapore’s dtcpay, Bets on Stablecoin-Powered Cross-Border Payments

Japan’s SBI Group invested in Singapore payments company dtcpay in a $25 Mn Series A funding round, extending a digital asset strategy that moves beyond crypto trading and towards using stablecoins for payments and cross-border settlement.

SBI invested through its Singapore subsidiary SBI Ventures Asset and the SBI-NTU-Kyobo Digital Innovation Fund, an early-stage fund set up by SBI Holdings, NTU Singapore’s commercialisation arm NTUitive and South Korea’s Kyobo Life Group. Neither SBI nor dtcpay disclosed the size of SBI’s investment or dtcpay’s valuation.

Dtcpay announced the first $10 Mn of its Series A on March 17, led by venture capital firm Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. Subsequent investments, including SBI’s, brought the completed round to $25 Mn. Genedant Capital and existing investor Kwee Liong Tek also participated.

The significance lies less in the cheque size than in where SBI is putting the money.

The Tokyo-listed financial services group has been assembling businesses around stablecoins, tokenised assets and regulated digital asset infrastructure. In May, it set out a strategy that splits on-chain finance into six layers, with the yen-denominated JPYSC and the dollar-denominated USDC and RLUSD handling settlement and fund transfers, and its asset management, securities and digital asset businesses handling product design and customers.

That strategy has increasingly centred on Singapore.

In July, SBI completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Coinhako, a Singapore-based digital asset platform, after receiving approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The transaction made Coinhako a consolidated SBI subsidiary and gave the Japanese group control of a business whose Hako Technology unit holds a MAS Major Payment Institution licence.

SBI said the deal would help it expand a digital asset corridor beginning with Japan and Southeast Asia.

Dtcpay adds another piece: infrastructure designed to connect stablecoins with conventional currencies and merchant payments.

From Crypto Trading to Payment Rails

Founded by Alice Liu and Band Zhao, dtcpay enables businesses and individuals to accept, store and transact in stablecoins while connecting those assets with fiat currencies and conventional payment channels. Its services include merchant payments and conversion between stablecoins and traditional currencies.

The company operates through Digital Treasures Center, which holds a MAS Major Payment Institution licence covering account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfers, merchant acquisition, e-money issuance and digital payment token services.

That regulatory footing matters because the commercial proposition around stablecoins is changing.

Stablecoins’ early growth was driven largely by crypto markets, where dollar-linked tokens gave investors a way to move between digital assets without returning to conventional bank deposits. The bigger institutional opportunity is to use the same technology to move value between businesses, financial institutions and countries.

SBI has been building exposure to several parts of that system.

In June, the group and Singapore fintech company Startale Group launched JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and distributed by SBI VC Trade. SBI said potential uses include corporate payments, merchant settlement, tokenised-asset transactions and cross-border remittances.

JPYSC had about JPY20.1 Bn in issuance outstanding as of September 7, according to SBI. But its current reach remains limited. The token was launched initially for use within SBI VC Trade accounts, with wider circulation on public blockchains planned only after legal and tax issues are addressed and regulatory confirmation is received.

SBI is also testing the cross-border thesis elsewhere. In May, it invested in the UAE-based digital finance company Fasset and, in June, through its remittance subsidiary SBI Remit, agreed to explore a next-generation international remittance network. In August, SBI Digital Practice and South Korea’s Nodeinfra separately announced plans to develop a stablecoin-based payment network between Japan and South Korea.

The projects are not one integrated system, and SBI has not said dtcpay, Coinhako and JPYSC will be connected directly. But together they give the group exposure to several layers needed if stablecoins are to move beyond trading and enter issuance, regulated digital asset access, conversion into conventional currencies, merchant payments and cross-border settlement.

Singapore Tightens the Rules

Singapore is simultaneously putting clearer regulatory boundaries across the market. On September 1, MAS opened consultation on legislative amendments to implement its single-currency stablecoin framework. The proposed regime sets requirements covering reserve assets, capital, redemption and disclosure, while allowing only issuers licensed under the framework to describe themselves as MAS-regulated stablecoin issuers.

Dtcpay’s existing licence is different.

It is authorised to provide regulated payment services, including cross-border transfers and digital payment token services. It is not being presented as an issuer of a MAS-regulated stablecoin under the framework now being implemented.

That distinction could become more important if stablecoins increasingly operate behind payment services rather than primarily as assets consumers buy and sell. A business could use the technology for settlement or international transfers while customer-facing transactions still resemble conventional payments.

The attraction is straightforward. Stablecoins can move across blockchain networks around the clock and potentially bypass some intermediaries in correspondent banking. But cheaper technology does not automatically mean cheaper payments.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has also warned that the fees charged to move money into and out of stablecoins can push the total cost above that of a bank transfer, particularly for smaller payments. Regulatory compatibility and compliance requirements also remain critical when money moves between jurisdictions.

Big Volumes, Limited Payments

Stablecoins also remain far more common as instruments within crypto markets than as a means of paying for goods, services or cross-border commerce.

BIS general manager Pablo Hernández de Cos said in an April speech that stablecoins generated about $35 Tn of transaction volume in 2025, but only around $390 Bn represented payment-related flows. He described that as a tiny fraction of activity in the traditional payment system, with stablecoins still used primarily for on-chain trading.

That gap is important for assessing SBI’s strategy.

The Coinhako acquisition gives it a regulated Singapore digital asset platform. JPYSC gives it a yen-denominated stablecoin, although it still operates within a restricted initial environment. Its other projects are exploring cross-border settlement. Dtcpay adds infrastructure connecting stablecoins with fiat currencies and merchants.

For dtcpay, the new capital will support expansion of its merchant network and products. The company has not disclosed revenue, transaction volumes or how much of its current business comes from cross-border stablecoin payments, leaving the scale of commercial adoption unclear.

For SBI, however, the direction is becoming clearer. The group is no longer building exposure only to crypto exchanges or digital tokens. It is assembling regulated businesses that could connect stablecoins with the infrastructure through which companies and consumers actually move money.

The $25 Mn round does not establish that stablecoins are ready to displace conventional cross-border payment networks. It does show that one of Japan’s major financial groups is treating them as financial infrastructure instead of just another crypto asset, with Singapore emerging as a key base for that bet.