Consensys Diligence and Pacific Meta Partner to Secure Japan’s Institutional Blockchain
A conversation with Andy Hung of Pacific Meta on Japan’s enterprise adoption landscape and what institutions need from a security partner.
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We’ve partnered with Pacific Meta to bring security services to Japan’s institutional blockchain market. Pacific Meta is a Tokyo-based consulting firm focused on tokenization, with deep connections across Japan’s enterprise and financial sectors.
For several years, many enterprise conversations about blockchain remained exploratory, with many questioning its practical business applications. Today, the tone of the conversation has shifted. Institutions are coming to the table with real operational problems: supply chain management, private credit, asset tokenization, and many more.
Japan is seeing growing institutional interest in stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and on-chain infrastructure. We sat down with Andy Hung, Head of Alliance at Pacific Meta, to talk about the blockchain adoption landscape in Japan, what institutional teams are actually asking for, and where security fits into the picture.
Together, our goal is to help Japanese companies adopt blockchain infrastructure with the security standards required in institutional finance.
We’re pleased to share the full interview below.
The market
Pacific Meta started out covering multiple Asian markets. What led to the Japan-only focus?
Japan’s economy is growing, and it now has a recently settled regulatory framework. This combination — big economy, clear rules — is creating real space for blockchain developers entering the enterprise market.
Where does the regulatory landscape stand?
Late 2023 and early 2024 saw the implementation of the Payment Service Act and the Financial Instrument and Exchange Act. Regulatory clarity is largely in place. The current challenge is translating those frameworks into actual implementations. Enterprises need guidance on what they can and cannot do, and on finding the right partners to build within compliance boundaries.
What’s driving institutional interest in blockchain in Japan?
The weakened yen has motivated Japanese businesses to earn in other currencies and generate yield through blockchain infrastructure. At the institutional level, mega banks are working on a joint stablecoin project, Sony has Soneium as a Layer 2 and is running financial initiatives through Sony Bank, and SBI is working with Startale on a regulated yen-denominated stablecoin. The Financial Services Agency has a department focused on DeFi and AML/KYC, and the FinTech Hub sandbox supports proof-of-concept work from banks and enterprises.
How have institutional attitudes shifted?
Two years ago at Blockchain Expo Japan, attendees questioned the legitimacy of NFTs. Now, institutions bring specific business problems, such as supply chain management and carbon credit management, and ask whether blockchain can solve them. The first fully regulated Japanese yen stablecoin project brought more seriousness to the broader discussion: institutions are no longer debating blockchain’s relevance; instead, they are exploring advanced applications.
“Institutions are no longer debating blockchain’s relevance — they’re working through how to use it.”
The opportunity
Which tokenization use cases have the most traction?
Real estate remains the largest sector for security tokens in Japan, consistent with global trends. Pacific Meta focuses on intangibles, including anime and sports teams, which become tradable through tokenization. The firm also works on private credit and equity, helping companies use tokenization for fundraising, and consults with enterprises through Japanese tokenization platforms comparable to Securitize.
What do institutions look for in a security partner?
Professional expertise, experience, and integrity. In Japan specifically, integrity carries particular weight as a cultural value, and institutions expect it from partners. Local presence is crucial — international security firms without a point of contact in Japan struggle with availability. Pacific Meta acts as an intermediary, providing first and second level support so clients always have access.
Language and cultural context are also essential: Japanese work culture favors local communication, and virtual meetings alone make it difficult to build the trust these engagements require.
Why Consensys Diligence as the security partner for this market?
There is a distinct quality to how the team works. They’re very focused on technology and own deep expertise in niche areas: ZK and Solidity audits. Consensys Diligence is one of the earliest security audit teams in the space, and the internal knowledge accumulated over that time is significant. The team’s approach, what they describe as “hacker with heart”, reflects security engineers who treat securing protocols as more than a checklist. For the Japanese enterprise environment, that combination of technical depth, integrity, and track record fits the requirements for ZK and Solidity security work.
“Security engineers who treat securing protocols as more than a checklist.”
What’s ahead
What are the biggest security pain points you’re seeing ahead?
Secure cross-chain transfer is a major pain point, especially as enterprises pursue their own app chains or Layer 2s with custom rule sets. The challenge is enabling interoperability between enterprises maintaining different configurations. Layer 2 is the more practical entry point; there’s no need for dedicated validators, less infrastructure overhead, and better interoperability than standalone app chains. Most enterprise chain activity across Superchain, OP Stack, Cosmos, and Avalanche will move toward composability, and securing those interactions will be a growing area of work.
Pacific Meta provides the local presence, regulatory context, and enterprise relationships. Consensys Diligence provides smart contract audits, ZK research, and AI-powered continuous scanning. For teams in Japan building on-chain products, Pacific Meta makes Consensys Diligence’s security expertise accessible through local support, market context, and implementation guidance.
