Tokyo Tower rising above central Tokyo skyline on a clear day, with dense office and residential buildings below.
BUSINESS

Lawson and Netstars Push Stablecoin Payments

Image credit: Shutterstock

Lawson will test JPYC payments at one Tokyo store in August, while Netstars has opened merchant applications for a stablecoin payment service supporting USDC, USDT and JPYC.

The two projects bring yen and dollar stablecoins into familiar checkout systems, with merchants able to view prices, sales records and settlement amounts in Japanese yen.

Lawson Will Test JPYC at One Tokyo Store

Lawson plans to start the trial in early August at its Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo. The convenience store operator will work with digital asset wallet provider HashPort to let customers pay for goods with JPYC, a yen-linked stablecoin.

Customers will show a barcode from a smartphone wallet, which staff will scan through the store’s point-of-sale system. HashPort will process the JPYC balance update, while the POS connection will keep purchase data such as item counts and transaction times.

The trial will measure payment speed and system integration before Lawson decides whether to expand the option. Lawson operates more than 14,000 stores in Japan, but the test is limited to one location and does not yet point to a chain-wide rollout.

Netstars Opens Stablecoin Pay Applications

Netstars separately launched Stablecoin Pay on July 13 and began accepting merchant applications. The service supports USDC, USDT and JPYC through one application, with payments initially available on Solana and Polygon.

Customers show a wallet QR code at checkout, while merchants use their existing payment terminals. MetaMask is the first supported wallet. Netstars plans to add Aptos, Bitget Wallet and imToken from summer 2026, with merchant-presented QR payments also planned later.

Merchants See Yen Records and 0.98% Fee

Merchants will see product prices, sales records and settlement amounts in Japanese yen, including when customers pay with dollar-linked tokens.

Netstars set the fee at 0.98% and said stores generally will not need extra hardware, though some environments may require development work.

Stablecoin Pay follows Netstars trials involving USDC at two Haneda Airport shops between January and February and at a trading-card store in Himeji from April.

August Trial Will Test Checkout Fit

Netstars is now opening applications across its StarPay merchant base rather than limiting the service to selected pilots.

Lawson’s JPYC trial remains narrower, but it will test whether stablecoin payments can fit the speed and data needs of a convenience-store checkout.

The next step is the August Lawson trial, while Netstars begins onboarding merchants to its commercial Stablecoin Pay service.

More For You

Polymarket Files US Margin Registration Bids
BUSINESS

Polymarket Files US Margin Registration Bids

Polymarket has filed three U.S. registration applications that could support regulated margin trading on event contracts. The applications…

Jul 13, 2026 3 min read
Explore More News