Stablecoin payments are moving closer to day-to-day retail use in Japan. HashPort said Monday it has agreed with convenience store operator Lawson and telecom company KDDI to begin a pilot that will test how stablecoin payments can fit into the country’s existing retail infrastructure. On the same day, Japanese payment provider Netstars announced the commercial release of Stablecoin Pay, a service that lets merchants accept several stablecoins at checkout.
Lawson pilot uses existing checkout systems
In the Lawson test, customers will pay through HashPort’s non-custodial wallet, while the store side will process transactions through existing point-of-sale systems. That means merchants and store staff do not need to run or maintain crypto wallets directly. The comparison table in the source places the pilot at Takanawa Gateway City in Tokyo.
The setup is built to reduce the technical burden on retailers. The partners said they want to evaluate integration with current retail systems, payment processing speed, everyday checkout operations, and the overall usability of digital wallets before considering any wider rollout.
Netstars opens Stablecoin Pay to merchants
Netstars is taking a broader commercial route. Its newly launched Stablecoin Pay initially supports USDC, USDT, and JPYC across the Solana and Polygon networks, and users can complete payments by connecting through MetaMask.
According to the company, merchants can continue using their current payment terminals in most cases. Product pricing, sales records, and settlement are all handled in yen, even when customers pay with dollar-pegged stablecoins such as USDC or USDT or with the yen-backed JPYC. Netstars set the merchant transaction fee at 0.98% and said it plans to add more wallets and blockchain networks later.
Earlier trials are now turning into live service
Netstars had already tested stablecoin payments before this launch. The company ran a USDC payment pilot at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from January to February, then followed with another trial at a trading-card store in Himeji in April. The move from limited pilots to an active commercial offering shows that Japanese companies are starting to bring digital asset payments into ordinary consumer transactions.
The two initiatives are not identical. Lawson’s project is focused on how stablecoin payments can be inserted into familiar in-store checkout operations with minimal change for staff, and the pilot is described as using yen-denominated stablecoins. Netstars, by contrast, is opening access to merchants nationwide and has already disclosed supported assets, networks, and fees.
Regulation has been moving ahead in Japan
These launches come after a series of regulatory steps in Japan. On June 1, 2023, the country implemented amendments to the Payment Services Act and related rules, creating a dedicated legal framework for stablecoins. The changes introduced specific categories for fiat-linked digital currencies and required intermediaries to register with the Financial Services Agency.
After that framework was put in place, Japanese authorities approved the distribution of USDC in March 2025. JPYC was then registered as a fund transfer service provider in August 2025, clearing the path for the stablecoin’s launch in October 2025. With the legal structure already defined, retail payment experiments in stablecoins are now moving into more practical deployment.