Sony Bank Taps Bastion for Stablecoin Infrastructure as Corporations Seek Payment Autonomy

Sony Bank is moving to integrate a USD-backed stablecoin into its ecosystem, partnering with Bastion to handle the underlying infrastructure. The project, which is pending regulatory approval, is slated for a 2026 launch and will support treasury functions and in-app payments.

Bastion CEO Nassim Eddequiouaq noted that large enterprises are increasingly looking to move away from traditional payment networks like Visa and Mastercard. By issuing their own stablecoins, companies aim to capture the economics of their payment rails, including reserve yields and redemption fees, while reducing settlement times and costs.

Interchange fees on traditional card networks typically range from 1.5% to 3.5% per transaction. In contrast, stablecoin transactions on blockchain infrastructure can settle in seconds for a fraction of the cost.

Bastion operates as a white-label infrastructure provider rather than a stablecoin issuer. The firm manages reserve compliance and transaction facilitation, holding a limited purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services alongside various state money transmitter licenses.

The partnership follows Bastion's 2025 funding round, which included participation from Sony Innovation Fund and Coinbase Ventures, as well as earlier support from a16z crypto.

While the shift toward corporate-issued stablecoins is gaining momentum, the rollout remains subject to the evolving global regulatory landscape.