Tokyo's Bureau of Industry and Labor has opened a new application round for its subsidy backing blockchain-based security token issuance, running from April 10, 2026 to January 29, 2027, with applications closing early if the budget runs out first. The program pays toward platform usage fees, legal and tax advisory costs, and outsourced system development for companies issuing securities backed by assets such as real estate over a distributed ledger.
The money follows a tiered structure. Standard applicants can recover half of eligible costs, capped at ¥7.5mn per project. Startups, defined as unlisted companies less than ten years old at the time of application that pursue new markets through innovative technology or business models to create new value or address social challenges, excluding cases where a large corporation effectively participates in their management, can claim two-thirds of costs under the same base cap. Tokyo can raise that ceiling to ¥10mn, after consulting a review panel, for projects that fall into one of two priority areas: initiatives targeting assets not yet meaningfully tokenized, or that build advanced schemes, to give individuals new investment opportunities, or projects that use digital technology, such as pairing tokens with stablecoins, to give individuals new investment experiences. Companies that already received the metropolitan government's earlier security-token issuance-support subsidy face a tighter ¥3mn cap if they apply again.
| Applicant category | Cost-share rate | Maximum grant |
|---|---|---|
| Standard applicant | Half of eligible costs | ¥7.5mn |
| Startup applicant (unlisted, under 10 years old) | Two-thirds of eligible costs | ¥7.5mn |
| Priority-area project (Tokyo-approved) | Same rate as applicant category above | ¥10mn |
| Recipient of the earlier issuance-support subsidy, reapplying | Half of eligible costs | ¥3mn |
Eligibility runs beyond the money. Applicants must already hold any financial-instruments-business or real-estate-joint-enterprise licenses their token issuance requires, keep a registered head or branch office in Tokyo, and must not be drawing another national or municipal subsidy for the same project in the same fiscal year. Projects generally must complete investor payment collection by March 31, 2027, and Tokyo runs interview-based review panels roughly every one to two months, awarding at most one subsidy per issuer.
The fine print carries real teeth. Tokyo can revoke a grant and demand repayment, with a 10.95 percent annual penalty rate on the returned amount, if a recipient obtained funds fraudulently, misused them, breached the award conditions, developed ties to organized crime, or simply failed to complete the token issuance because investor funding never materialized. The city also explicitly declines to vouch for any tokenized product it funds: the guidelines state Tokyo does not evaluate financial suitability or risk, and selected projects still carry ordinary credit, price and liquidity risk. Contact for applicants runs through Tokyo's International Financial City Promotion Division on 03-5320-6274.