Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
MUFG group companies, Digital Asset and Progmat said they would test simultaneous settlement of Japanese government bonds against digital money, and the full repo lifecycle, on the Canton Network.
- Status
- Live
- Announced
- (announcement)
- Original title
- 日本国債（JGB）レポ取引のオンチェーン化に係る実証実験開始について
- Stage
- Test
- Chain or network
- Canton Network
- Participants
- Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, MUFG Bank, Digital Asset Holdings, Progmat, Secured Finance
- Next review
Scorecard
As of the review on . How pilots are scored
| Ledger | Private ledger |
|---|---|
| Settlement | No cash leg |
| Access | Closed |
| Legal standing | Mirrors an off-ledger record |
| Scale | Simulated |
What they said they would do
- OpenTest DvP settlement of JGBs against digital money on chain, keeping the JGBs' legal status as book-entry bonds, with tokenised deposits or stablecoins considered as the digital money.
- OpenAutomate the repo lifecycle with Secured Finance's lending protocol on the same structure.
Review history
Live Test
The FSA says MUFG and others began the test in August 2026. No results, transactions or choice of digital money have been published, so settlement is set to none and scale to simulated until evidence shows a cash leg and real value.
Evidence: fsa.go.jp, bk.mufg.jp
What was announced
On 13 August 2026 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and MUFG Bank said they would test moving repo trades in Japanese government bonds (JGBs) onto a blockchain, with Digital Asset Holdings and Progmat, on the Canton Network. A repo is a sale of bonds with an agreement to buy them back, in effect a loan secured on the bonds. The test has two parts: simultaneous settlement of JGBs against digital money, keeping the JGBs’ legal status as book-entry bonds while account management institutions update their book-entry records in step with the chain, and automation of the repo lifecycle with a lending protocol from Secured Finance. MUFG said the test is part of the case the Financial Services Agency (FSA) took on in February 2026 under its Payment Innovation Project.
How it works
Digital Asset provides the tokenisation on Canton and supports issuing and managing the tokens; Progmat analyses existing practice for JGB transfers and repo. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and MUFG Bank act as market participants, MUFG Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust as account management institutions, and MUFG Bank as the deposit-taking bank. The digital money leg is under consideration as tokenised deposits or stablecoins. The book-entry record under the Act on Book-Entry Transfer of Corporate Bonds and Shares stays the legal record and the chain mirrors it, so legal is twin. Canton is a permissioned network outside Ethereum’s execution environment, so ledger is private, and only MUFG companies take part, so access is closed. No digital money has been chosen, so settlement is none.
Record so far
The FSA’s 30 September 2026 briefing paper says MUFG and others began the test in August 2026 under the second Payment Innovation Project case, which the FSA took on on 13 February 2026 for Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities and the three megabank groups. No results have been published.
For Ethereum
Canton is becoming the default for JGB collateral in Japan. MUFG chose it for repo, and four months earlier Mizuho, Nomura and Japan Securities Clearing Corporation chose it for collateral, so both megabank-led JGB tests of 2026 run on a network built for institutional finance that is not EVM-based, one with the clearing house taking part. The base is two tests in one year, both with Digital Asset as a participant.
What to watch
Results of the DvP and lifecycle tests, a first trade with real value, and which digital money MUFG settles against: tokenised deposits on another network or a stablecoin.