JPYC Raises $38M in Series B as Yen Stablecoin Expands to Truck Drivers

JPYC Inc., the company operating Japan’s first fully regulated yen-pegged stablecoin, has extended its Series B funding round, pushing total investment to roughly 6 billion yen, or about $38 million.

The latest check, according to JPYC’s capital raise announcement, includes about 1 billion yen, or $6.3 million, from AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings, a Tokyo-listed logistics heavyweight whose customers include Amazon Japan. Stablecoins represent digital currencies built to track fixed assets, with a majority of the market pegged to the U.S. dollar. The stablecoin asset JPYC is designed to mirror the Japanese yen one for one.

Tokyo-based JPYC, founded in 2019 and run by CEO Noritaka Okabe, launched the stablecoin in October 2025. It became the first digital currency registered under Japan’s amended Payment Services Act as an official electronic payment instrument. That registration forces JPYC to meet government rules covering reserves, redemptions, and consumer safeguards, obligations many cryptocurrencies simply avoid.

Every JPYC token is covered by yen bank deposits and Japanese government bonds, allowing holders to convert their coins into ordinary yen whenever needed. JPYC collects interest from those reserves instead of squeezing users with transaction charges, giving the company room to offer cheap or free transfers.

The AZ-COM Maruwa agreement moves JPYC beyond another carefully staged investment announcement. The logistics company intends to pay roughly 2,300 business partners and independent contractors, largely truck drivers and subcontractors, for transportation work and outsourcing charges. It appears to be one of the first attempts in Japan to use a yen stablecoin for routine corporate payment operations.

The partnership tackles a problem logistics operators already feel daily. Japan’s trucking sector is short on drivers because its workforce is aging and labor reforms introduced new overtime limits in 2024. AZ-COM Maruwa executives argue that quicker, cheaper JPYC settlements could support more frequent contractor payments and worker retention, while bank transfers remain slower, fee-heavy and tied to limited processing windows.

The companies plan to connect payments directly with delivery confirmation records, possibly through GPS tracking or smart contracts, computer programs that release money automatically after agreed conditions are verified. That setup could remove manual invoicing steps and slash administrative expenses. AZ-COM Maruwa is also building a dedicated wallet application to handle the payments.

The arrangement lands as Japan’s government leans deeper into blockchain payments. The Cabinet approved economic policy guidance in July promoting what officials describe as onchain finance, where blockchain payments connect directly to commercial and logistics records. JPYC wants the circulating supply to reach trillions of yen over several years, an aggressive target while its current circulating value remains closer to $55.47 million.

JPYC is hardly running this race uncontested. SBI Group has introduced a trust-backed yen stablecoin, while Japan’s three megabanks, MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho, are developing a shared stablecoin project. JPYC has also tested payments at Lawson convenience stores, probing whether ordinary shoppers will actually use the technology outside carefully controlled demonstrations.

Previous Series B investors included Metaplanet Ventures, which committed 400 million yen in March. Turning JPYC’s corporate interest into sustained adoption will require more operating partners, reliable technical scaling and proof that the reserves remain liquid when redemption pressure finally arrives.

The real signal will be how fast AZ-COM Maruwa activates payments for contractors, whether rival logistics and retail companies copy the system, and how regulators and megabanks respond as Japan’s stablecoin contest accelerates through the remainder of 2026.