[REVISION HISTORY]

JPYC stablecoin adoption and DeFi expansion in Japan

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-09 20:41 UTC → 2026-08-19 10:14 UTC · added ~~removed~~

In early July 2026, Lawson, Japan’s third-largest convenience-store chain, signed an agreement with KDDI and wallet provider HashPort to pilot yen-pegged stablecoin JPYC payments at its Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo. The test, scheduled for early August, links the digital token directly to the existing POS system, allowing customers to pay by scanning a barcode from the non-custodial HashPort app. A week later, logistics firm AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings announced a payroll rollout that will pay roughly 2,300 subcontractor drivers with JPYC, backed by a ¥1 billion investment that effectively doubles the token’s supply. This initiative marks the first large-scale corporate use of a regulated stablecoin under Japan’s revised Payment Services Act. On August 6, Lawson conducted Japan’s first stablecoin-payment trial on its existing POS terminals. Customers scanned a barcode displayed in the HashPort wallet, which the POS processed like a QR-code transaction without requiring hardware changes. Simultaneously, JPYC completed an extended Series B financing round, bringing total proceeds to approximately ¥6 billion ($38 million) with backing from AZ-COM Maruwa, Metaplanet Ventures, NCB Venture Capital, and Sumitomo Life. By August 9, the on-chain circulation of JPYC exceeded 2 billion yen. As the asset expands from simple payments and remittances toward decentralized finance (DeFi), industry focus has shifted toward establishing liquidity pools—specifically a JPYC/USDC pair—to facilitate institutional trading, lending, and 24-hour on-chain yen-dollar markets. By mid-August, JPYC circulation reached approximately 2.83 billion yen, driven in part by expansion onto the Kaia blockchain. Additionally, the stablecoin has entered the niche e-commerce sector via a specialized platform developed by mameta, which utilizes JPYC to offer gasless transactions and low merchant fees for various goods, ranging from agricultural products to digital content.

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