Japan’s Progmat Dumps Corda, Goes All-In on Avalanche

 Progmat shifts $2B+ in tokenized securities to Avalanche, ditching Corda for EVM compatibility and cross-chain DvP settlement in a landmark infrastructure overhaul.

Japan-based digital asset infrastructure firm Progmat announced on February 26, 2026, a full migration of its security token platform to Avalanche. The move covers every active security token deal on the platform. At the time of the announcement, that total operating balance exceeded 439.6 billion yen, or more than $2 billion.

The firm confirmed it is dropping Corda 5 as its underlying distributed ledger. Avalanche replaces it entirely. Progmat CEO Tatsuya Saito, posting on X as @tatsu_s1203, outlined the dual purpose of the transition. “We’re moving Progmat ST from Corda5 to Avalanche, making all ST deals EVM-compatible and progressively permissionless,” Saito said in the post.

The migration falls under an internal project codenamed “Project Keystone.” Work began in the autumn of 2025. Full completion is expected by June 2026.

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The Corda Exit Nobody Saw Coming

Progmat’s choice of Avalanche comes down to three things. Security customization through Avalanche L1s, native cross-chain communication via InterChain Messaging, and EVM compatibility that connects the platform directly to the broader Ethereum developer base.

The L1 architecture gives Progmat control over who participates. Validator access, contract deployment rights, and user permissions can all be adjusted without taking the chain offline. That matters for financial institutions working under strict regulatory constraints.

As Saito noted on X, the firm wants to satisfy financial sovereignty requirements while still opening doors to DeFi services and foreign institutional investors. Those two goals usually sit in tension. Avalanche’s adjustable permission model is how Progmat threads that needle.

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$2 Billion Is Just the Beginning

The migration isn’t only about the chain swap. Progmat is commercializing cross-chain settlement for the first time. That includes Delivery Versus Payment between security tokens and stablecoins, and Payment Versus Payment between stablecoins issued across different legal jurisdictions.

Both features have been in development for years. DvP settlement between ST and SC markets has been a target since October 2021, according to Saito’s X post. Project Trinity, announced in August 2025, moved that work toward commercial deployment. Project Pax, running since September 2024, has handled cross-border stablecoin infrastructure with institutions in Europe, South Korea, and Japan.

The cross-chain layer uses IBC/LCP via Datachain alongside Avalanche’s native ICM. Progmat picked these protocols specifically to avoid lock-in to a single bridge provider. The firm is partnering with Ava Labs and Datachain to deliver the full stack.

This isn’t Progmat’s first major infrastructure overhaul. The first came in October 2024 when the firm became the first in Asia to complete a full migration to a Corda 5 SaaS setup. That was 18 months ago. Now Corda is out entirely.

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What the EVM Shift Actually Changes

Going EVM-compatible is a significant unlock for market participants. Ethereum’s development tooling, smart contract libraries, and DeFi protocols all become accessible to security token issuers on Progmat ST. That wasn’t possible on Corda.

The practical impact: foreign institutional investors can access Japanese tokenised securities. DeFi platforms can connect with regulated ST products. And stablecoin projects operating on EVM chains can settle trades directly against Progmat assets.

Japan’s security token market has operated on purpose-built chains since its inception. Major financial institutions, licensed under Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, built the market with custody-based models in mind. That structure stays intact. The chain layer changes. The compliance stack does not.

As Saito framed it on X, the end goal is bringing institutional investor access to global standards. The 439.6 billion yen in existing ST deals will transition with minimal disruption to issuers and investors. New ST issuances started disclosing the Avalanche migration in their securities registration documents immediately after the announcement.

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