Binance Pay will allow eligible overseas users visiting Japan to spend Tether (USDT) at the vast majority of PayPay-supported merchants starting Wednesday, the cryptocurrency exchange announced.
The integration operates through HIVEX, a payment interoperability framework. Merchants will not need to opt in separately and will receive yen settlement. PayPay is accepted at millions of locations nationwide, including major chains, smaller retailers, vending machines, taxis, and public transportation.
Binance told Cointelegraph it is the first crypto payment service to access PayPay-supported merchants through HIVEX. Nine other overseas payment services already operate on the framework, primarily from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Japan’s Visitor Market
Japan received 42.7 million international visitors in 2025. The country ranked ninth globally and first in Asia for international visitor arrivals in 2024.
Recent visitor numbers show weakness. Japan recorded 3.1 million visitor arrivals in August 2026, a 9.6% decline year-over-year. For the first eight months of 2026, total arrivals reached 27.6 million, down 2.7% compared to the same period in 2025.
The Binance Pay integration targets this overseas visitor base. By enabling USDT spending at widely available merchants, the service removes friction for international travelers who hold stablecoins and eliminates currency conversion steps at the point of sale.
The framework also simplifies merchant operations. Because PayPay merchants do not need to separately opt into Binance Pay acceptance, adoption becomes automatic across the PayPay network rather than requiring individual merchant enrollment.
