Japan's Megabanks Plan a Joint Yen Stablecoin | CoinDesk Daily

**Jennifer Sanasie** (0:00)
Japan's megabanks are launching a stable coin and on-chain credit raised $175 million.
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House committee hearing on crypto tax bills revealed doubts about whether the legislation is ready to move. Two provisions are on the table, an exemption for small transactions and a deferral option, letting miners and stakers wait until they sell before reporting income. The bill's path forward looks murky as the deferral piece drew significant concerns from committee Democrats and the congressional calendar is nearly out of runway. Blockchain lending protocol Morpho raised $175 million in a round co-led by Paradigm, A16Z Crypto and Ribbit Capital. The protocol has more than $11 billion in deposits and counts Coinbase crack in Binance, Galaxy and Anchorage Digital as clients. This is a sign that investors are betting on the institutional adoption of blockchain-based credit infrastructure and three of Japan's largest banks, MUFG, Mizuho and SMBC announced plans to jointly issue a yen-backed stablecoin by March 2027 They'll use a trust structure and run the token on Progmat, a blockchain built by MUFG and NTT Data. Yen-backed stablecoins currently represent less than $50 million in a $311 billion market dominated almost entirely by dollar tokens. Get more updates on coindesk.com.