Binance Pay launched on Sept. 30 a service that lets eligible overseas users spend Tether USDt (USDT) and other supported digital assets at the vast majority of PayPay-supported merchant locations across Japan through the HIVEX interoperability framework. Binance said the rollout gives about 48 million eligible Binance Pay users from more than 100 countries and regions access to PayPay merchants while visiting Japan. The payment flow connects Binance Pay to PayPay’s QR network so customers can scan a merchant’s PayPay QR with the Binance Pay app or show a payment code in the Binance app for the merchant to scan, and merchants continue to receive settlement in Japanese yen.
HIVEX acts as a bridge between overseas QR payment services and PayPay’s existing merchant infrastructure, allowing participating businesses to accept payments from multiple overseas wallets without separate integrations. For merchants, the arrangement preserves the local PayPay settlement process and removes the need for businesses to hold or directly process cryptocurrency, with Binance handling the crypto side of the transaction.
The rollout expands a preexisting relationship between PayPay and Binance’s Japan operation: PayPay acquired a 40% stake in Binance Japan in October 2025, and earlier integrations focused on moving funds and depositing yen via PayPay Money into Binance Japan. Binance positioned the PayPay interoperability as part of a broader payments strategy that links stablecoins and QR-based payments to traditional checkout flows, while Japan’s payments sector has been testing other stablecoin pilots and treasury experiments. Binance framed the integration as making payments more seamless and borderless for travelers, with the feature limited to eligible international visitors rather than Japanese residents.