JPYC raises $38 million Series B led by major Japanese logistics firm AZ-COM Maruwa

JPYC Inc. raised 6 billion yen ($38 million) in an extension of its Series B funding round to accelerate the expansion of its yen-pegged stablecoin.

The investment brings the company’s total raised to $106 million across seven funding rounds since November 2021, according to venture capital data site Tracxn.

New investors in the latest round include AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings (9090), a major Japanese logistics company.

AZ-COM plans to settle payments in JPYC with its clients, including Amazon Japan. Its network of around 2,300 partners is made up of subcontractors, drivers and so on. The move marked the first large-scale corporate use of a stablecoin for daily business operations in Japan.

JPYC is one of the most prominent stablecoins pegged to the Japanese yen with a market cap of $55.5 million, according to data tracked by CoinGecko.

Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to the value of a traditional financial asset, usually a fiat currency. The market is overwhelmingly dominated by tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar. The yen stablecoin sector is growing, helped by adoption among some of Japan’s largest financial institutions, but remains negligible in the context of the USD-dominated market.