Japan’s LDP Unveils AI-Blockchain Finance Plan to Promote Stablecoins, Tokenized Deposits

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has proposed a next-generation financial infrastructure combining artificial intelligence and blockchain, laying out plans to expand stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

CoinPost reported on May 19 that the “Next-Generation AI and On-Chain Finance Vision” project team, which sits under the LDP’s Digital Society Promotion Headquarters within its Policy Research Council, released policy recommendations for building an AI- and blockchain-based financial system.

The team set out goals of automating payments, lending and asset management, while enabling 24-hour financial services. It also said finance should be cultivated as Japan’s “18th growth investment sector.”

It emphasized that on-chain financial infrastructure is urgently needed to prepare for the era of “agentic commerce,” in which AI agents autonomously conduct economic activity.

The proposal named tokenized deposits, or TDs, and stablecoins, or SCs, as its two core pillars. It called for key issues surrounding the tokenization of Bank of Japan current account deposits and a wholesale central bank digital currency to be organized and disclosed by the end of this year. On stablecoins, it said ministries should work together to establish their legal status for uses such as salary payments and tax payments.

The document also referred to a joint stablecoin issuance plan involving Japan’s three megabanks. The LDP said it is reviewing the matter with a view to launching actual operations by next March.

It also included a strategy to foster the asset-management industry through the on-chain tokenization of real-world assets, including accounts receivable and real estate.

The team proposed closer cooperation with other Asian countries as well. It called for the creation of an “AI and On-Chain Finance Asia Policy Dialogue Framework” and a “Global Stablecoin Corridor Initiative” to expand cross-border payments using yen-based stablecoins.

CoinPost said stablecoin issuance in Japan has grown to about 45 trillion yen ($312 billion), led by dollar-based stablecoins Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.

The LDP warned that a delayed response could deepen reliance on overseas payment systems and weaken monetary sovereignty. It said Japan needs a five-year roadmap led by the Financial Services Agency and broader joint investment by the public and private sectors.

The proposal also cited the risk that advances in quantum computing could undermine blockchain cryptography. It urged the Digital Agency to establish a permanent monitoring system and examine response measures.