JPYC

On August 24, the stablecoin wallet Unifi, operated by LINE NEXT, began offering direct issuance and redemption of the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC. This feature was made possible through integration with JPYC EX, the official platform run by JPYC Inc. Users can enter the desired amount on Unifi and, after confirmation of a Japanese yen deposit, have JPYC automatically issued into their wallet at a rate of one JPYC to one yen. They can also withdraw and redeem their JPYC holdings as Japanese yen to a bank account. Unifi is a non-custodial stablecoin wallet that runs within the LINE app and began supporting JPYC on May 22. As JPYC Inc. advances support for the Kaia chain and revises issuance limits, the Kaia chain accounted for roughly 1.94 billion JPYC, or about 68 percent of the total circulating supply of approximately 2.85 billion JPYC as of August 25. With the implementation of direct issuance and redemption, a pathway is now in place for converting between Japanese yen and the stablecoin entirely within the wallet, without going through an external platform.

AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings announced on July 22 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding for a capital and business alliance with JPYC Inc., the issuer of the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC. The company will invest approximately 1 billion yen to acquire a 2.9% voting stake and will gradually introduce JPYC for payment of outsourcing fees to roughly 2,300 partner companies, including sole proprietors. The rollout will begin in the Tokyo metropolitan area with a limited scope. The near-term target from closing to payment is around five days, with an image of closing on the 25th and payment at month-end. If achieved, the payment cycle would shrink from the current 20 days to one quarter of that.

The Blockchain Collaborative Consortium, or BCCC, announced on the 19th that it will add JPYC, a yen-denominated electronic payment stablecoin, as a payment method for annual membership fees starting in July 2026. Supported wallets are unWallet and HashPort Wallet, and the service will initially be used for annual fee payments by member companies. The consortium describes the initiative as the first of its kind by an industry association. Yoichiro Hirano, representative director of BCCC and president of Asteria, said it is the first step in the association putting itself on the user side, and expressed his intention to accumulate tax and accounting expertise and share it with members. Noritaka Okabe, president of JPYC and vice representative director of the consortium, praised the solution as ideal for running an industry association because it enables highly transparent accounting. JPYC began issuance in October 2025, and the amount issued reportedly surpassed 3 billion yen as of May 30, 2026.

UPBOND, a blockchain developer, announced on August 19 that it is working with JapanTicket, which operates a tourism experience booking service, to test "in-trip content" that proposes tourism experiences and restaurant reservations to guests staying at APA Hotel. UPBOND is developing "Agentic Wallet" infrastructure that uses AI to suggest experiences to travelers and handles everything through payment with the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC. Its "Login3.0" platform, which integrates authentication and payment, has about 1 million wallet users in Japan, with more than 4,000 people using it per day. In this pilot, hotel check-in through Login3.0 serves as the entry point, and inbound travelers are offered restaurant reservations at sushi shops and izakaya pubs, Japanese cultural content such as watching morning training at a sumo stable and chopstick-making experiences, and tourist coupons usable at department stores. Payments use JPYC issued by JPYC Inc., aiming to resolve challenges specific to inbound travelers such as foreign exchange fees and payment failures. On August 18, JPYC marked one year since its registration as a funds transfer business, and its total circulating supply has expanded to 2.8 billion yen, with corporate use cases spreading.

JPYC Inc., issuer of Japan's first yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC, marked one year on the 18th since obtaining registration as a funds transfer business, with total circulation reaching approximately 2.83 billion yen. The company obtained registration as a funds transfer business under Article 37 of the Payment Services Act on August 18 last year, and launched its issuance and redemption platform JPYC EX on October 27, 2025 to begin official issuance. Circulation reached 1 billion yen on June 26 this year, then expanded roughly threefold in less than two months, driven in part by support for the Kaia chain in May. On August 5, cumulative funding reached approximately 6 billion yen through a Series B extension, with logistics giant AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings making a new investment and revealing plans to introduce JPYC for paying outsourcing fees to around 2,300 partner companies. In physical store payments, Japan's first demonstration of POS register integration using the HashPort Wallet was conducted at major convenience store chain Lawson on August 6, and a second verification using MetaMask was carried out on the 17th.

Yuichiro Minato, CEO of quantum computing company blueqat, announced on X on August 15 that quantum computer hardware can now be used on a pay-as-you-go basis with the yen stablecoin JPYC. Using the actual hardware with JPYC does not require a monthly contract, and users pay only for what they use. With blueqat MCP, in addition to a simulator that reproduces quantum circuits on a computer, users can also request computational processing on actual quantum computers. The service is currently connected to a 32-qubit superconducting processor in the Tokyo region. blueqat has now made hardware usage fees available through metered billing with JPYC. The base fee is 10 JPYC per hardware job, plus 0.1 JPYC per shot. A single shot therefore costs 10.1 JPYC. blueqat treats 1 JPYC as equal to 1 yen, and payments are made using Polygon. blueqat also offers a free plan and a paid plan at 980 yen per month, but with JPYC pay-as-you-go, users can run hardware jobs without a monthly contract. The simulator remains free, and JPYC billing applies only to hardware jobs.

Lawson has launched Japan's first proof-of-concept trial for stablecoin payments at point-of-sale registers, while Cloudflare has unveiled a stablecoin-compatible wallet. Lawson's trial is taking place at a store in Takanawa Gateway City, and paying with JPYC was as effortless as a standard QR code payment. Cloudflare's wallet also supports autonomous payments by AI agents, marking a turning point where the internet itself embeds financial infrastructure. The moves by both companies symbolize that stablecoins are entering a phase where they are quietly woven into existing infrastructure, rather than emerging as a new protagonist.

Digital Garage announced on August 10 that it has begun commercial deployment of its stablecoin payment platform, DG Stablecoin Payment Service, or DG SPS. The initial rollout is planned for JCB and its subsidiary DG Financial Technology, known as DGFT. DG SPS connects to existing payment operator systems via API, enabling merchants to accept stablecoin payments, starting with US dollar-denominated USDC on the Base network. The company plans to expand support to the yen-linked stablecoin JPYC, as well as Ethereum and Polygon, and is also moving toward enabling agentic commerce, where AI agents autonomously execute payments.

On August 6, Lawson conducted Japan's first proof-of-concept experiment for payments with the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC using existing POS registers at its Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo. Users simply had a barcode displayed on their smartphone scanned by the POS register and pressed an authentication button to complete payment, with usability virtually unchanged from conventional QR code payments. The experiment used a wallet from HashPort, and the company's CEO, President Yoshida, as well as JPYC representative Noritaka Okabe, experienced the payment process on site. A key feature this time is the use of existing POS registers without requiring dedicated terminals or special QR codes. Lawson plans to verify POS system integration, store operations, and payment processing times, and apply the findings to future adoption.

JPYC Inc., the issuer of the yen-pegged stablecoin JPYC, has raised a total of 6 billion yen, or 38 million US dollars, in an extended Series B funding round. Part of the new funding, 1 billion yen, comes from AZ-COM Maruwa, a major logistics company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which plans to use JPYC to pay fees and salaries to approximately 2,300 business partners and independent contractors. Earlier in March, Metaplanet Ventures invested 400 million yen in this Series B round. JPYC, which launched last October as Japan's first registered stablecoin, has also trialed stablecoin payments at branches of Lawson, the country's third-largest convenience store chain. Meanwhile, traditional financial institutions such as SBI Group have launched JPYSC, a yen stablecoin backed by a trust bank, and three megabanks—MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho—are jointly developing a co-issued stablecoin.

JPYC President Noritaka Okabe has revealed that he is consulting the Financial Services Agency’s Fintech Support Desk about a scheme to use stablecoins for donations to support areas affected by the Kumamoto earthquake. The plan involves soliciting donations in JPYC and USDC, swapping USDC for JPYC via DeFi, and then having JPYC redeem the tokens for Japanese yen, with the cash donated to local governments and the Japanese Red Cross Society. The company is also checking whether this entire process would fall under the category of electronic payment instruments business. Okabe explained that this approach requires no system modifications and can be launched most quickly, and he indicated that details will be disclosed once a response is received from the FSA.

Major logistics company AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings has announced a partnership with JPYC to develop a logistics payment system using stablecoins. With a logistics network encompassing approximately 2,300 partner companies, the aim is a future where compensation is deposited in real time upon delivery completion. This initiative has the potential to fundamentally change how compensation is received, which has traditionally relied on end-of-month paydays and bank transfers, and a new flow of money is about to begin in the logistics industry, where cash flow is directly tied to business.

JPMorgan has expanded the supported currencies for its blockchain deposit accounts to eight, in a series of moves signaling that on-chain finance has entered the implementation phase. SBI envisions building a cutting-edge exchange featuring 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and stablecoin support, while JPYC aims to reach a scale of 100 billion yen within the fiscal year. Efforts by major domestic companies are also accelerating, with Lawson starting a proof-of-concept for JPYC payments in August and JCB considering collaboration with Circle on stablecoin utilization. Globally, DTCC has begun live trading of tokenized securities, BlackRock is advancing the convergence of crypto assets and traditional finance, and Visa has announced its stablecoin platform VSP. These developments indicate that stablecoins, tokenized deposits, on-chain government bonds, and ETFs are becoming interconnected, forming on-chain finance as a next-generation financial infrastructure.

Lawson will begin a pilot of in-store payments using the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC in early August. The test will take place at the Lawson Takanawa Gateway City store operated by KDDI and Lawson, in collaboration with digital asset wallet provider HashPort. The trial will verify a system where a barcode is scanned at the point-of-sale terminal to update the JPYC balance. This is said to be Japan's first pilot of stablecoin payments linked to a POS system. Based on the results, Lawson will consider a full-scale rollout.

Entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, speaking at a WebX 2026 panel session, discussed the shift from a cash-based society to stablecoins and called for the elimination of high-denomination banknotes. Horie stated that there is no reason for paper money to exist now, and pointed out that getting rid of the 10,000-yen note would be one way to reduce cash usage. He also stressed the importance of creating an environment where yen-denominated stablecoins are easy to use, expressing hope that widespread adoption would bring major change to Japan. Noritaka Okabe, CEO of JPYC, who appeared on the same panel, urged companies to start by actually holding yen-denominated stablecoins and recording them on their financial statements.

Netstars announced on July 13 the launch of Stablecoin Pay, a service that allows merchants to adopt multiple stablecoin payment options in a single package. It is the first service in Japan to enable the introduction and operation of multiple stablecoin payments through a single application, with a processing fee of 0.98 percent. The supported stablecoins are the yen-denominated JPYC and the US dollar-denominated USDC and USDT. The compatible blockchains are Solana and Polygon, and the MetaMask wallet can be used. Support for Aptos, Bitget Wallet, and imToken is planned for summer 2026 and beyond. Existing StarPay merchants at approximately 700,000 locations can continue using their current payment terminals, and sales and settlements can be managed in Japanese yen, eliminating the need to worry about exchange rate fluctuations or custody methods.

HashPort announced that it will launch HashPort Wallet MCP in September, connecting AI agents with its non-custodial wallet, HashPort Wallet. When a user gives instructions via chat, the AI presents a transaction plan combining transfers and swaps on the blockchain, with execution requiring user approval through a PIN or biometric authentication. The first release will feature the ability to exchange and aggregate balances scattered across multiple chains into JPYC via DEX, and plans to support moving assets into DeFi lending and consolidating payments to multiple counterparties into a single plan. By the first half of 2027, the company plans to introduce agentic commerce, enabling travel bookings and shopping payments via AI, as well as integration with business software.

At a panel session during IVS2026 CRYPTO ZONE, JPYC CEO Noritaka Okabe stated that payments generate yield, explaining that when stablecoins are used as a means of payment, liquidity is created, which can lead to yield through DeFi and incentive design. Circle’s Kenta Sakakibara positioned stablecoins as infrastructure for value transfer and also touched on their compatibility with AI. Yoshio Tsuki of Osaka Digital Exchange pointed out that if liquidity increases between stablecoins and tokenized MMFs, they could effectively become yield-bearing products, while Emi Hidaka of Nomura Holdings said that payments will form the foundation of on-chain finance. JPYC currently supports four chains — Polygon, Kaia, Avalanche, and Ethereum — with circulation growing particularly on Kaia, and usage in DeFi and NFT trading is expanding among top-tier point-earning users.

NADA NEWS has launched a weekly Saturday feature that reviews the week's top news in a quiz format. This week, it was revealed through original reporting that amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, which include shifting crypto asset regulations currently under deliberation in the current Diet session to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, are close to being passed. The quiz covered foundational knowledge such as the bankruptcy of Mt. Gox and the full name of KYC, as well as the transfer of regulatory oversight from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act under the regulatory amendments, the blockchain that accounted for roughly 90 percent of the increase in the total circulating supply of the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC, which surpassed 2 billion yen and grew by 1 billion yen in two weeks, and the amount of assets processed over ten months by the wallet of a suspect arrested by Thai authorities in an Interpol-led international fraud crackdown. Answers and explanations will be announced every Tuesday on the X Space "Weekly NADA NEWS."

Angoya LLC announced on the 10th the launch of "Stebul Pay," a service enabling stablecoin payments via bank transfer. Users do not need a wallet or gas fees, and can pay with the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYC through Japanese yen bank transfers. Merchants face no credit checks or chargebacks, and sales proceeds are credited after JPYC issuance and bank transfer completion. Angoya will exhibit as a Silver Sponsor at the Web3 conference "WebX2026" on July 13 and 14, offering demos of the service and consultations on adoption.

The total circulation of the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC has surpassed 2 billion JPYC. Since 1 JPYC is issued and redeemed at 1 yen, the equivalent of 2 billion yen worth of JPYC is circulating on multiple public blockchains. After confirming the total circulation had exceeded 1 billion JPYC on June 26, the circulation increased by the equivalent of 1 billion yen in about two weeks. During this period, the circulation of JPYC on the Kaia chain grew significantly from approximately 420 million JPYC to about 1.31 billion JPYC, with the increase of roughly 890 million JPYC accounting for about 90 percent of the total increase of approximately 1 billion JPYC.