In brief
- Sony Group plans for U.S. customers to pay for video game subscriptions and other content using its own stablecoin, according to Japanese publication Nikkei.
- It comes after its banking division, Sony Bank, filed for a U.S. banking license in October.
- Sony launched its own Ethereum layer-2 network earlier this year, and has filed multiple blockchain-related patents.
Video game and tech giant Sony Group plans to issue a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin next year to be used to purchase games and anime within its digital ecosystem, according to a report from Japanese outlet Nikkei.
This plan is likely to only apply to the U.S., thanks to the passing of the GENIUS Act earlier this year—a bill that paved a clear regulatory path for issuing stablecoins in the country.
It comes after Sony’s banking division, Sony Bank, filed to acquire a U.S. national banking charter in October. This license would allow for its subsidiary, Connectia Trust, to engage in “certain specified activities involving cryptocurrency.”
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) later urged the national trade association to block Sony’s bid, claiming it was exploiting regulatory loopholes to avoid traditional banking oversight.
According to Nikkei, Sony Bank hopes that U.S. customers will pay for subscriptions in its stablecoin throughout its ecosystem In doing so, it would reduce payment fees often incurred when using credit cards. Sony Bank has partnered with stablecoin firm Bastion, according to Nikkei, which will provide the infrastructure for the Sony stablecoin.
Sony’s thriving PlayStation platform includes digital games and subscriptions for the PlayStation 5 console, along with PC games and others that can stream to various devices via cloud computing. Nikkei’s report doesn’t specifically mention PlayStation, but all of Sony’s gaming efforts run through that brand. Sony Group also operates the popular Crunchyroll anime streaming service.
Decrypt reached out to Sony for comment regarding the reported plans, but did not immediately receive a response.
This is not the first time that Sony has flirted with crypto implementations.
In 2021, Sony applied for a U.S. patent to create standardized digital infrastructure that would allow gamers to own and transfer NFTs. The application said these NFTs could include in-game skins, avatars, artwork, weapons, or “video game skills.” Sony has yet to implement such functionality within the PlayStation ecosystem, however.
That same year, Sony also applied for a patent for a system that tracked digital assets in video games using a blockchain. And in January 2025, Sony and partner Startale Group launched the Ethereum layer-2 network Soneium into mainnet.
Fans of the tech giant hoped that Soneium would get a slew of PlayStation games rolling onto it. However, as of this writing, no major Sony franchise has released a crypto game on Soneium. Rather, it has become a network with NFT music collections and a growing library of smaller games, plus it hosted a tie-in with Square Enix’s now-shuttered crypto game, Symbiogenesis.
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Source: https://decrypt.co/350630/playstation-goes-crypto-sony-stablecoin-gaming-payments-nikkei
