Emi Yoshikawa has launched Across Ventures Fund I, a $100 million fund backed by SBI Holdings, focusing on blockchain, fintech, and deep tech investments. Meanwhile, April 2026 marks significant XRP adoption in Japan, with SBI Ripple Asia's token issuance and successful bank pilots showcasing the benefits of XRP.

Rakuten Pay has integrated XRP, enabling 44 million users to spend the cryptocurrency at over 5 million merchants in Japan. This integration highlights a shift from trading cryptocurrencies to everyday payments, supported by Japan's favorable regulations and fintech infrastructure.

South Korean AI company Upstage has closed its Hong Kong subsidiary after five years due to underperformance. The company is now focused on the U.S. and Japan, investing in its U.S. operations and expanding AI solutions through partnerships.

Rakuten Wallet has launched XRP as a payment method, allowing users to buy XRP with Rakuten Points and spend it at millions of merchants in Japan. This integration expands XRP's reach to a vast, non-crypto user base within Rakuten's extensive ecosystem.

Gate News message: As of April 9, Japan-compliant stablecoin JPYC has reached a total trading volume of $137 million since the end of October last year. Of this, Polygon leads with $90.4 million, accounting for 66%, Avalanche has a trading volume of $26.4 million, and Ethereum has $19.7 million. In addition, Polygon’s founder confirmed that Japanese physical retail stores have supported offline payments for JPYC on the Polygon network.

Gate News message: On April 9, the HIP-3 ecosystem project Trade.xyz launched a Nikkei 225 Index (Japan stock market benchmark index) contract, supporting up to 20x leverage.

Gate News message, April 8, SBI Ripple Asia has completed development of a token issuance platform based on the XRP Ledger, and has registered in Japan as a prepaid payment instrument issuer. The platform enables businesses to issue tokenized payment instruments.

Rakuten Wallet Japan announced that it will list Shiba Inu (SHIB) spot trading on April 15, 2026, allowing users to buy and sell SHIB with Japanese yen, signaling further recognition in the Japanese market. At the same time, other digital assets will also be launched, which is expected to attract more investors and expand use cases. This move helps strengthen SHIB’s regulatory standing in Japan and drive its development in Asia’s digital asset market.

Gate News: On April 8, Bitcoin Treasury Company MetaPlanet CEO Simon Gerovich announced that the number of the company’s Japanese shareholders has surpassed 250,000, making it one of the stocks with the highest holdings in Japan.

The Japan SANAE TOKEN incident sparked a political stir, as token promotion involving Prime Minister Sanae Takaiti drew controversy. The market reaction was intense: after the token price surged dramatically, it then fell sharply. Japan’s Financial Services Agency has launched an investigation; regulatory scrutiny will be strengthened, signaling that compliance requirements in the crypto market will rise.