Japan's Lawson Convenience Store to Pilot Yen Stablecoin Payments Starting August

Lawson, Japan's third-largest convenience store chain, will pilot payments with the JPYC yen stablecoin at a Tokyo store starting in August 2026. The trial, a partnership with KDDI and HashPort, marks the first direct integration of a stablecoin into a retail POS system in Japan. The move follows a 2023 regulatory framework that enabled regulated stablecoins like JPYC, which now has over 2B yen in circulation.

Lawson stablecoin pilot

• ▪Lawson is Japan's third-largest convenience store chain, operating 14,697 stores with over 3.02 trillion yen in annual sales for fiscal year 2026
• ▪The trial will take place at Lawson's Takanawa Gateway City store in Minato Ward, Tokyo
• ▪JPYC is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Japanese yen that launched in October 2025
• ▪The pilot is described as Japan's first stablecoin trial to be integrated directly into a store's point-of-sale (POS) system
• ▪Lawson will begin a pilot program to accept JPYC stablecoin payments in early August 2026
• ▪JPYC's on-chain circulation surpassed 2 billion yen (approx. $12.36 million) in the week prior to July 13, 2026
• ▪The proof-of-concept trial is a collaboration between Lawson, telecom operator KDDI, and crypto wallet firm HashPort

Netstars merchant payment service

• ▪The Netstars service allows merchants to handle pricing and settlement in yen, removing the need to hold crypto or manage exchange rates
• ▪Stablecoin Pay initially supports USDC, USDT, and JPYC on the Solana and Polygon networks, with a merchant fee of 0.98%
• ▪On July 13, 2026, payments company Netstars launched Stablecoin Pay, a service for merchants to accept multiple stablecoins

Japan stablecoin regulatory framework

• ▪Japan implemented a dedicated regulatory framework for stablecoins on June 1, 2023, through amendments to the Payment Services Act
• ▪JPYC Inc. fully backs every issued token with yen deposits and government bonds, in compliance with Japan's Payment Services Act
• ▪JPYC was the first yen stablecoin registered under Japan's 2023 licensing rules
• ▪The rules require businesses acting as stablecoin intermediaries to register with Japan's Financial Services Agency