Japanese logistics firm AZ-COM Maruwa is moving to pay contractors with a yen-backed stablecoin, a step that could mark one of Japan’s first large-scale corporate uses of digital cash.
Nikkei reports that AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings will adopt JPYC — a yen-denominated stablecoin issued by JPYC Inc. — to pay roughly 2,300 business partners, including individual truck drivers and other transportation contractors. The company says JPYC’s transfer-fee-free design should let it process payouts faster and more frequently than conventional bank transfers.
Beyond the payments rollout, AZ-COM Maruwa is reportedly weighing a deeper tie-up with JPYC Inc., including a potential investment exceeding ¥1 billion (about $6.2 million). Neither firm has announced a timeline for the partnership or the investment.
If implemented, the plan would make AZ-COM Maruwa — a mid-sized logistics provider whose clients include Amazon Japan — one of the first large Japanese corporates to integrate a yen-backed stablecoin into routine business payments. The move comes amid a broader shift in Japan’s crypto policy and corporate experimentation with regulated blockchain payments.
This month, Japan amended its Financial Instruments and Exchange Act to reclassify cryptocurrencies as financial products rather than payment instruments — a change that opens the door to domestic crypto ETFs, introduces insider-trading rules for digital assets, and lays groundwork for a separate crypto tax regime expected in 2028. At the same time, corporate initiatives such as SBI Holdings’ partnership with the Solana Foundation (creating SBI Solana Global) signal increasing institutional interest in on-chain infrastructure for yen-denominated stablecoins, tokenized securities, and settlement services.
“We will continue to advance the integration of logistics and commercial payment flows with JPYC,” JPYC founder and CEO Noritaka Okabe said, underscoring the company’s push to broaden stablecoin use beyond trading and into everyday business operations.
AZ-COM Maruwa’s experiment will be watched closely: if successful, it could become a model for other firms seeking faster, cheaper, blockchain-based payment rails within Japan’s evolving regulatory framework.
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