Japan's AZ-COM Maruwa is the first to adopt JPYC stablecoins on a large scale for carrier payments

From salary experiments to logistics operations: Japanese express delivery giant launches stablecoin payments

Japanese express delivery giant AZ-COM Maruwa (Amazon delivery partner), which has a huge network of independent drivers, is migrating its carrier payment system to a stablecoin pegged to the yen. According to relevant reports, the company will start using JPYC to make payments to approximately 2300 partner carriers and independent drivers. At the same time, the company also invested 1 billion yen in the JPYC project and established a commercial partnership with the issuer.

This move is not simply procurement innovation. It marks the first time that a large Japanese company has used the regulated yen stablecoin on a large scale for operating payments. In an economy where cash and bank transfers still dominate B2B settlements, this sends an important signal.

Japan paves the way for stablecoin regulation

Japan's revised Payment Services Law came into effect in June 2023, establishing a clear licensing framework for stablecoin issuers. The law distinguishes between bank-issued stablecoins and trust companies-issued stablecoins and explicitly allows payments using secured yen-linked tokens. JPYC operates under this framework, is backed by yen reserves, and is issued through regulated channels. Legal clarity is a double-edged sword: It encourages institutional adoption, but also imposes strict redemption and custody rules that many start-ups believe are costly to comply. AZ-COM Maruwa's move shows that the framework is now operational, at least for large corporate partners.

In contrast, U.S. stablecoin legislation remains deadlocked. Traditional financial institutions are still trying to influence or prevent relevant rule-making. This comparison makes Japan's implementation on the enterprise-level stablecoin payment track particularly prominent.

What the launch of JPYC means for corporate payments

For AZ-COM Maruwa, the logic is very straightforward: Paying thousands of independent drivers through traditional banks involves bulk transfers, settlement delays and handling fees. Programmable stablecoins enable near-instant settlement, reduce reconciliation efforts, and provide a transparent audit trajectory. The company operates a dense last-mile distribution network, and cash flow predictability is crucial. Migrating payment-like payments to a blockchain tool pegged to yen 1:1 will maintain familiar units of account while upgrading the payment process.

Skeptics may ask: Why does the Bank of Japan need a private digital yen when it is piloting a central bank digital currency (CBDC)? The answer lies in time and integration. Private stablecoins can be adopted immediately without waiting for the central bank's full launch. In addition, corporate finance departments can manage JPYC holdings with other assets in a way that is not yet supported by the central bank's direct digital currency liabilities. If the experiment is successful, it could attract peers in the logistics industry and mid-sized companies in manufacturing and retail-areas where fragmentation of contractor payments has long been a headache.

The 1 billion yen investment and business partnership adds another meaning. This shows that AZ-COM Maruwa is pursuing more than just a transactional relationship, but wants to have an equity in the payment infrastructure itself. This is consistent with a broader trend: non-financial companies are using tokenization to internalize part of their settlement processes. A similar model has appeared when financial technology companies integrated blockchain tracks to serve underdeveloped regions, but the focus here is domestic logistics, and the integration logic is the same: reduce friction and control the tracks.

The overall picture of tokenization

The corporate adoption of JPYC is not an isolated incident. Real-world asset tokenization has exceeded US$20 billion on the chain. Stable coins are the settlement layer for this trend. If Japanese companies begin to view tokenized yen as a legal payment instrument, use cases such as tokenized treasury bonds, trade receivables, and logistics financing will become more credible to risk-averse CFOs.

However, this promotion is not without uncertainties. Compared with the dominant dollar-pegged stablecoin, JPYC's liquidity in the secondary market is still limited. Even in Japan, where QR code payments have surpassed card payment infrastructure in many places, acceptance by merchants who use stablecoins directly for consumption is still in its infancy. Regulators will pay close attention to whether the stablecoin is mainly used for payments or is beginning to serve as a shadow deposit vehicle-exactly what the Payment Services Act aims to prevent. How issuers manage reserve reporting and redemption windows will determine whether other companies follow suit or sit back and wait for alternatives issued by banks.

AZ-COM Maruwa is actually conducting a controlled field test of Japan's stablecoin laws. If it can expand smoothly, discussions in Asia on the adoption of corporate stablecoins will become even more lively. If it encounters a setback, it will give regulators in Tokyo and elsewhere reason to slow down private sector initiatives and instead support the central bank's digital currency timetable. Anyway, 2300 drivers are paid through JPYC, which is more than just a pilot project. This is a real-life experiment to test whether stablecoins can handle the trivial but crucial task of operating a distribution fleet.