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 demand from financial institutions to move money and assets onchain is rising.
The firm’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 will lead the initiative, the company said it plans to work with banks, businesses and public agencies to promote the platform globally.
The move comes as momentum for stablecoins and tokenized assets is increasing in Japan. For example, JPYC, the first regulated yen-pegged stablecoin backed by bank deposits and government bonds, 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 powers half of Japan’s credit card transactions and processes over ¥300 trillion, roughly $2 trillion, annually through its PAYCIERGE payment system. The Multi-Token Platform brings this scale to blockchain rails, turning 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 handle over 50,000 transactions per second with near-instant finality—capabilities designed to meet the strict standards of Japan’s financial sector.
If successful, the effort could become the backbone of Japan’s broader push toward a digital financial system, AvaCloud CEO Nick Mussallem said. The platform is expected to support use cases like real-time settlements, embedded finance and, eventually, central bank digital currency (CBDC) testing.
“Moving forward, we will collaborate with diverse 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.
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