The UAE-based Fasset, a stablecoin-based digital banking platform, has raised $68 million in a Series C funding round that valued it at $1 billion, led by Japan’s SBI Group.

In a statement on Monday, Fasset said the round turned Fasset into a unicorn status. The raising came three months after a $51 million Series B in May, bringing its funding this year to $119 million.

Fasset will utilize the capital to expand Own Network, its regulated infrastructure that connects banks, telecommunications firms, and payment and liquidity providers to settle transactions across more than 100 banking corridors. Fasset will also invest in AI systems for cross-border settlement, stablecoin payments and tokenized assets.

The investment deepens Fasset’s ties with Tokyo-based financial conglomerate SBI Group. SBI is one of the more active traditional financial firms in digital assets, with holdings in Ripple, Circle, Morpho, and ownership of the crypto liquidity provider B2C2. Fasset will tap SBI’s network, including a partnership with SBI Remit that supports remittances to about 200 countries, to expand its payment corridors.

Fasset provides financial accounts that let individuals, businesses, and institutions hold, move, spend, and invest across currencies and asset classes. The platform utilizes stablecoins as the settlement layer underneath rather than as products customers manage directly.

It also uses AI to route transactions across payment rails, currencies, and liquidity providers based on cost, speed and availability, and focuses on emerging markets. It can offer a Shariah-compliant model that has gained traction in the Gulf and South Asia.

Fasset processes more than $40 billion in annualized transaction volume and serves over 3 million wallets and more than 1,000 enterprises across 125 countries, with regulatory approvals in markets including the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia, the European Union, Turkey and Pakistan.

Yoshitaka Kitao, chairman and chief executive of SBI Holdings, said Fasset could serve as a financial bridge connecting Japan with high-growth markets. Stablecoin-based settlement infrastructure is a core part of SBI’s regional digital-finance strategy.

Founded is Los Angeles in 2019, Fasset has raised more than $150 million and operates through regulated entities and partnerships across the Gulf, Asia and Europe.

Fasset raises $51M to expand stablecoin banking services in Asia, Americas, Africa