～ Realizing a Next-Generation Digital Financial World Where All Economic Activity Intersects Seamlessly ～
AltX Research K.K. is pleased to announce the rebranding of "Japan Smart Chain (JSC)" to "MIZUHIKI: The Japan Chain," marking a strategic pivot to stablecoin payment infrastructure. Going beyond blockchain alone, MIZUHIKI will provide an integrated offering of regulated stablecoin issuance and settlement infrastructure and PSP services. We are also thrilled to announce the launch of our mainnet and the selection of our POC initiatives by multiple municipalities. In conjunction with these milestones, we have refreshed our brand identity. MIZUHIKI's mission is to become the national-level next standard - the foundational infrastructure that supports and accelerates Japan's digital financial ecosystem.
Taking Japan's Financial System to the Next Level - Infrastructure and Payment Solutions Are Both Essential
Japan was among the first in the world to establish a legal framework for stablecoins, yet accelerating real-world adoption remains a challenge. Through extensive discussions with Vision Partners and a broad range of industry players, we concluded that what Japan needs most to build a next-generation ecosystem is a Japan-sovereign, Ethereum-equivalent public blockchain delivering regulated stablecoin payments at scale, with low cost, privacy, and sub-second finality.
In parallel with building the infrastructure, we identified critical pain points in real-world payment environments. For high-value cross-border transactions, the limitations of traditional payment rails, FX spreads, card declines, and transfer friction, are particularly acute, and stablecoin payments offer the most effective solution. We concluded that upgrading Japan's digital financial system requires not only infrastructure, but also a stablecoin payment solution to accelerate the ecosystem - and so MIZUHIKI will launch a stablecoin PSP.
This is made possible by a team with deep expertise in Japan's payments industry - led by Russell Cummer, founder of Paidy, the buy-now-pay-later service that redefined smart shopping in Japan, and Szilvia Kovari Krecsmari, who as former CSO drove Paidy's market penetration.
What MIZUHIKI Offers
Regulated Stablecoin Issuance and Settlement Infrastructure
"MIZUHIKI: The Japan Chain" is a Japan-sovereign, Ethereum-equivalent L1 blockchain built for regulated stablecoin payments at scale. Designed to help stablecoin issuers unlock their full potential, the platform offers the flexibility to support diverse real-world payment and remittance needs. SpeedLane Payments delivers sub-second deterministic finality - the same confirmation speed consumers expect from a card terminal. No gas token required: users pay in the stablecoin they already hold. The MIZUHIKI Compliance Suite provides KYC, AML screening, and risk management at the platform layer, shared infrastructure that every project on the network can use without building from scratch. Pay for compliance once; share it across every application on MIZUHIKI. The revenue-share model returns a portion of on-chain transaction fees to stablecoin issuers, enabling them to earn from transaction volume, not just reserve yields, creating a sustainable stablecoin economy even in Japan's low interest rate environment.
Payment Solutions to Accelerate the Digital Financial Ecosystem
The MIZUHIKI PSP enables customers to pay in stablecoins while merchants receive settlement in JPY. Gas abstraction ensures a seamless payment experience - no native token required. Accepted stablecoins, including USDC, USDT, and JPYC, are managed via a strict whitelist to minimize volatility and compliance risk. Merchant settlements are remitted monthly in JPY, with no crypto exposure or custody burden. The service is purpose-built for high-value transactions (¥1M+), cross-border commerce, and inbound consumption, resolving the limitations of traditional payment rails including card declines, FX spreads, and transfer friction. For foreign tourists and overseas buyers navigating credit card limits and the complexity of international transfers, the MIZUHIKI PSP offers the most efficient and seamless payment solution available.
Building National-Level Infrastructure - Mainnet Launch and POC
MIZUHIKI's mainnet is now live. We are actively working with stablecoin and technology partners on market validation and operational proof-of-concept initiatives. As part of our national infrastructure initiative, we are developing a subsidy payment platform that enables recipients to receive and use funds using only their My Number Card, powered by stablecoins, and have been selected by multiple municipalities for this initiative.
Japan faces a deepening aging society, with smartphone penetration falling below 70% among households aged 75 and above (*1). At the same time, the surge in benefit disbursements, driven largely by inflation countermeasures, has pushed municipalities to expand smartphone-based distribution, inadvertently leaving behind those who need support most. To reach all recipients, many municipalities continue to run parallel paper-based systems, driving administrative costs to between 10–20% of total disbursement budgets (*2). These structural challenges underpin the recommendation by the Liberal Democratic Party's "Next-Generation AI and On-Chain Finance Project Team" that "the Digital Agency should, within the fiscal year, examine the on-chain migration of benefit systems to enable more targeted disbursements by government and municipalities." For recipients, the new system eliminates the need for advance registration or apps, enabling a significantly simpler and smarter benefit experience.
As a Japan-sovereign blockchain, "MIZUHIKI: The Japan Chain" guarantees Japanese data residency and seeks to minimize outside regulatory influence. Every validator node is located onshore in Japan, operated by an approved domestic entity accountable under Japanese law, making it the most suitable infrastructure for government and municipal services. The project aims to complete its POC within the fiscal year.
*1: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Survey on Telecommunications Usage (FY2025)"
*2: Board of Audit Report, FY2017: "Administrative cost ratio for the Premium Coupon Program: 17.7%"
Rebranding in Indigo - Building Infrastructure That Endures
"Mizuhiki" is an ancient Japanese knot symbol representing the binding of people, value, and trust. Once tied, the knot is difficult to untie - embodying the strength and permanence of a network built to last. By adopting "MIZUHIKI", previously the name of our product, as the name of the infrastructure itself, we make a deliberate choice to express our mission more honestly and more powerfully.
At the heart of our new visual identity is 藍 (あい, ai)AI - indigo, long known in Japan as the "winning blue." We have translated this enduring symbol of strength into a modern, precise identity, built to endure, and built to lead. The new logo is an emblem that abstracts the mizuhiki knot, parallel strands binding together, representing both the network where many validators converge into one chain, and the transaction where currency conversion, compliance, and settlement resolve into one confirmed payment.
On the announcement, Russell Cummer, Founder of AltX Research K.K., commented: "What we are building is not an incremental improvement on existing finance. We envision a world where all economic activity intersects seamlessly on MIZUHIKI. By vertically integrating robust infrastructure with an advanced PSP, we are creating a next-generation digital financial ecosystem, born in Japan, that circulates value across businesses, individuals, and the nation as a whole. The mainnet launch and POC initiatives announced today mark a critical milestone in this bold endeavor. We invite you to watch MIZUHIKI's journey."
