payments
Mercari's FinTech business represents a crucial pillar in the company's diversified portfolio, leveraging its established marketplace platform to offer financial services and payment solutions. The company recognizes that fostering financial inclusion and creating seamless transactional experiences for its users is a key driver of long-term growth.
CBDC
The Bank of Papua New Guinea, in cooperation with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and FinTech company Soramitsu, has successfully completed a proof of concept for the country's central bank digital currency (CBDC), Digital Kina. The Digital Kina's PoC utilizes cutting-edge technology
stablecoin
Hokkoku Financial Holdings and its group company The Hokkoku Bank have started offering "Ishikawa Tochipo" points issued by Ishikawa Prefecture using the digital local currency service "Tochituka," which is jointly provided with Digital Platformer. "Ishikawa Tochipo" will be introduced as part of the utilization
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-seventh edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Here you can view the future of Japan: Musashino University's Entrepreneurship Musashino Campus (EMC GLOBAL) held its academic year-end event and pitch contest, also including regional winners from the Philippines, Singapore, and India. The quality of the pitches
stablecoin
JPYC held a seminar about its Japanese stablecoin, and its potential applications, on Friday, January 31, 2025. CEO Okabe's Self-Introduction and Company Overview Okabe begins by thanking the attendees and introducing himself as the CEO of JPYC, a company he founded five years prior. He explains his background
crypto
Open House Group has commenced cryptocurrency payment acceptance, enhancing convenience for global customers looking to purchase Japanese real estate. Initially supporting Bitcoin and Ethereum, the company will leverage its group strengths to progressively offer comprehensive, one-stop services encompassing property search, purchase, management, and sales consultation. The Open House Group boasts
payments
Nuvei announced an expansion in Asia-Pacific (APAC), having completed the acquisition of Paywiser Japan, including its acquiring license granted by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The license enables Nuvei to progress with launching direct acquiring capabilities in Japan across all major card schemes, and to extend
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-sixth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Here is what we are going to cover this week: * Venture Capital & Private Markets: JAL & Hitachi participate in BeZero Carbon's USD 32m Series C; Z Venture Capital & Decima Fund participate in Vivident's seed
payments
The Financial System Council's Working Group on Payment Services has published its key findings and recommendations today. The report addresses emerging issues in the Japanese FinTech landscape, focusing on payment and settlement services, crypto-assets, stablecoins, and other related topics. It proposes several regulatory adjustments to balance innovation with
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Thank you for all the well wishes. We are back, and so is Ueda-san, who is going to raise the policy rate to 0.5% this week. It simply has to happen, notwithstanding any nonsense coming out of Washington prior
cashless
In December 2024, Payments Japan published its "Cashless Roadmap 2024", focusing on Japan's cashless payment trends, the activities of the Cashless Promotion Council, international comparisons, and progress toward the goals outlined in previous roadmaps. The report highlighted the growing adoption of cashless payments in Japan, while
cards
JCB International has launched a new JCB Panda Card in collaboration with Taiwan Rakuten Card. Taiwan Rakuten Card was established in 2014 with the approval of the Financial Supervisory Commission to enter the Taiwanese domestic credit card market, becoming the first e-commerce platform in Taiwan to issue its own credit