XRP-Friendly SBI to Launch Japan Stablecoin in Q2, Ethereum May ‘Flip’ Bitcoin in Five Years Amid Quantum Threat, Cardano’s USDC Eyes Two-Day Deadline: Morning Crypto Report

TL;DR

• Japanese fintech giant SBI Holdings announces plans to launch its own yen-pegged stablecoin in Q2, 2026.
• Charles Edwards believes Ethereum’s developer focus on quantum resistance makes a Bitcoin flippening within five years realistic.
• Cardano is on the verge of a stablecoin breakthrough as the ADA community awaits USDC’s launch before the end of February.

SBI announces JPYSC: Will it launch on XRP Ledger?

As became known this morning, SBI Holdings, in partnership with Startale, is preparing the rollout of its own yen-pegged stablecoin. The issuer will be Shinsei Trust, with launch scheduled for April-June.

The goal of the JPY stablecoin, which will carry the ticker JPYSC, is on one hand an attempt to reclaim market share from dollar-denominated stablecoins that dominate the global crypto market. However, there are also other objectives, particularly in AI payments and tokenization.

The Q2 launch timeline is due to the fact that the parties involved in this initiative still need to obtain approval from regulators and comply with the requirements of Japan’s Payment Services Act.

Technical details of JPYSC are not specified. However, given the friendly ties between Ripple and SBI, where the latter owns a 9% stake in the former, it can be assumed that the new stablecoin may appear on the XRP Ledger. 

In any case, Ripple representatives will clearly push for such an option, which is not surprising given the success of RLUSD, which has reached a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, and a number of integrations such as with Deutsche Bank.

Further strengthening of the partnership with SBI in the area of a nondollar stablecoin is too good of a deal for Ripple not to consider. For XRP and XRP Ledger, this would be an excellent boost for strengthening positions in the new tokenized era of finance.

“Very real” possibility of Ethereum flippening Bitcoin: Charles Edwards

By the end of the week, the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin presented an updated roadmap for 2026. Among other things, it noted that one of the main priorities for ETH will be quantum-resistant security, a question that worries many participants in the crypto community more each year.

Charles Edwards reacted to this point in a new post on X, suggesting that such prioritization of quantum security by Ethereum developers makes a flippening of Bitcoin “very real,” while Bitcoin developers, in his opinion, do not place this aspect even in the top hundred priorities.

For some, Edwards sounds like an alarmist, while others would say that his forecast that “Q-Day” will arrive within five years is an underestimation.

Based on current figures, if Bitcoin’s price remains unchanged at $67,600, for Ethereum to overtake it, ETH would need to reach approximately $11,100-$11,300 per coin, which means demonstrating about 560% growth from current levels. Only then would both cryptocurrencies equalize in market capitalization at $1.35 trillion.

Cardano two days away from receiving first major stablecoin: USDC

The last interesting piece of news of this morning on the crypto market is also connected with a stablecoin and blockchain, and it concerns Cardano and USDC. According to Cexplorer estimates, the February deadline will be respected, and within the next two days, the launch of USDC from Circle on Cardano will take place. 

This is hinted at by 42 mint transactions conducted on the blockchain, as well as the fact that the number of test transactions has successfully crossed into the hundreds.

For Cardano, the launch of such a large stablecoin in native form is invaluable. Not only is USDC one of the largest cryptocurrencies and present on all major chains such as Solana and Ethereum, but the stablecoin also has a market capitalization of more than $75 billion. 

For comparison, ADA, the native token of Cardano, has a market capitalization of $10.2 billion, more than half of which is locked in staking.

The launch of USDC on Cardano will significantly simplify operations on a blockchain that can be said to have suffered from the absence of such a liquid stablecoin. 

Moreover, this will undoubtedly increase Cardano’s interoperability and quite possibly unlock the blockchain for many third-party applications and contracts that avoided Cardano due to its excessive complexity and limitations.

Key for crypto ahead of weekend

Taking these developments into account, further details from SBI regarding JPYSC should be expected. The key interest remains whether Ripple or XRPL will be involved in the launch. In addition, the launch of USDC on Cardano may serve as the necessary narrative support that could allow ADA to break out from the general market flow and support quotes in the near term.

As for prices, focus should remain on the following levels:

• BTC: Bitcoin is hovering around $66,010 right now — watch $68,000-$70,000 as immediate resistance and $65,000-$65,500 as the must-hold support to avoid a slide toward $63,000.
• ETH: Ethereum sits at $1,963, with the $1,950-$2,000 zone acting as critical support; a solid hold here keeps bulls alive for a push toward $2,080-$2,100 resistance and then $2,150-$2,200.
• XRP: XRP trades near $1.37, where $1.40-$1.45 is the key resistance to break for further upside, while $1.32-$1.35 support must hold or risk a deeper drop to $1.27-$1.20.
• ADA: Cardano is at approximately $0.283, with $0.30 as the major resistance everyone is watching, a break above which would open the door to $0.34-$0.35, but losing $0.27-$0.28 support could send it back to $0.24.