AZ-COM Maruwa, a logistics provider for Amazon Japan, plans to pay approximately 2,300 partners using JPYC, a yen-denominated stablecoin, in what the company says is Japan's first large-scale corporate deployment of the token for operational payments.
JPYC is issued by the Japan Open Chain Association and is designed to settle transactions in Japanese yen on blockchain rails. The stablecoin has operated since 2023 but has seen limited adoption outside fintech and crypto-native use cases. AZ-COM Maruwa's deployment would extend JPYC into mainstream logistics operations, a sector that handles millions of daily contractor and vendor payments.
AZ-COM Maruwa operates as a major last-mile delivery contractor for Amazon Japan and manages a network of thousands of independent delivery partners and subcontractors across the country. The shift to stablecoin settlement addresses a friction point in Japanese business operations: cross-bank transfers to large networks of independent workers often incur multiple layers of fees and require advance coordination with multiple financial institutions.
Stablecoin adoption in Japan has faced regulatory uncertainty. The Payment Services Act, revised in 2017, classifies stablecoin issuers as payment service providers and subjects them to reserve requirements and regulatory reporting. JPYC's issuer, the Japan Open Chain Association, registered as a Payment Service Provider in 2023 and maintains full yen reserves to back issued tokens.
No timeline for the rollout has been announced. AZ-COM Maruwa has not disclosed whether contractors will receive JPYC directly or whether the company will convert stablecoin payments to yen after settlement.
