SoftBank Group company PayPay, one of Japan’s largest digital payments apps, has acquired a 40% equity stake in Binance Japan as part of a new strategic partnership aimed at combining cashless payments with access to cryptocurrencies.
The move brings together PayPay’s 70 million users and its extensive merchant network with Binance’s blockchain infrastructure, integrating PayPay Money, a smartphone-based digital wallet, on Binance Japan to allow users to purchase cryptocurrencies and withdraw funds through the wallet.
According to an announcement, the companies plan to jointly develop products that will allow users to buy, sell and store digital assets seamlessly.
“This strategic alliance represents a significant step towards the future of digital finance in Japan,” said Takeshi Chino, CEO of Binance Japan.
“By combining PayPay’s vast scale of users with Binance’s innovative technology, we will be able to make Web3 more accessible to people nationwide and provide secure and seamless digital asset services. Binance Japan will continue to drive the growth of the Web3 ecosystem in Japan,” Chino added.
The move comes as Japan increasingly embraces cryptocurrencies, with several publicly traded companies in the country now managing bitcoin treasuries. The largest of these companies, Metaplanet, has 30,823 BTC at the time of writing.
Japanese startup JPYC reportedly plans to issue the first yen-pegged stablecoin this year.
