Circle will officially launch USDC in Japan on Wednesday on SBI VC Trade, a crypto exchange under financial conglomerate SBI Group, as the stablecoin issuer seeks to expand in the country.

Circle announced on Tuesday that USDC will first be listed on March 26 through Circle Japan KK on the SBI VC Trade exchange. It also plans to launch USDC on other local exchanges, including Binance Japan, bitbank and bitFlyer.

The upcoming USDC listing comes after SBI VC Trade gained regulatory approval to process USDC transactions earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Circle disclosed that it has formed a joint venture with SBI Holdings after it signed an agreement with SBI in 2023 aimed at a "comprehensive business alliance."

"Circle becomes the first and only stablecoin to be approved for use in Japanese markets," Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, said in a post on X. "We have spent 2+ years engaging with Japan's regulators, major industry players, strategic partners, banking partners and others to enable USDC for the Japanese market, which unlocks tremendous opportunities not just in trading digital assets, but more broadly in payments, cross border finance and commerce, FX and more."

Japan revised its stablecoin-related regulations in June 2023 that required service providers to complete registration under the Funds Settlement Act and the Banking Act to operate the circulation of stablecoins, according to a previous SBI statement.