Japan’s TIS, one of the country’s largest payment infrastructure providers, is launching a blockchain-based platform with Ava Labs, the team behind AVAX$20.39 as the demand from financial institutions to move money and assets through the chain increases.
The company’s new Multi-Token Platform, built using AvaCloud, Avalanche’s enterprise-focused blockchain builder, aims to support the issuance, settlement and management of digital assets such as stablecoins and tokenized assets under Japan’s Payment Services Act. With TIS set to lead the initiative, the company said it plans to work with banks, corporations and public bodies to promote the platform globally.
The move comes as momentum for stablecoins and tokenized assets increases in Japan. For example, JPYC, the first regulated yen-pegged stablecoin backed by bank deposits and government bonds, was launched this week.
TIS’s token platform reflects a growing trend in Japan, where legacy financial institutions are embracing blockchain not to disrupt the current system, but to upgrade it, John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, told CoinDesk in an interview.
TIS handles half of Japan’s credit card transactions and processes more than ¥300 trillion, roughly $2 trillion, annually through its PAYCIERGE payment system. The Multi-Token Platform brings this scale to blockchain rails, transforming decades of traditional payment systems into programmable financial infrastructure.
The platform will give TIS and its partners a dedicated layer 1 network with fine-tuned controls over privacy, governance and performance. Ava Labs says the system can process more than 50,000 transactions per second with near-instant finality – capabilities designed to meet the strict standards of Japan’s financial industry.
If successful, the effort could become the backbone of Japan’s broader push toward a digital financial system, said Nick Mussallem, CEO of AvaCloud. The platform is expected to support use cases such as real-time settlements, embedded financing and ultimately central bank digital currency (CBDC) testing.
“Going forward, we will work with various players, including financial institutions, corporations and government agencies, to promote the global adoption and ecosystem development of this next-generation financial infrastructure originating from Japan,” Isao Otokita, managing executive officer of TIS, said in a statement.
Read more: Japan’s New Yen Stablecoin is Asia’s Only Truly Global Fiat-Pegged Token