JCB tests USDC acceptance at a Lawson store in Tokyo

JCB, Digital Garage, and convenience-store operator Lawson have signed a basic agreement to trial in-store stablecoin payments, with the first transactions run at a single Tokyo branch from 20 August 2026. What changed The three companies are moving stablecoin acceptance from a settlement experiment into a live point-of-sale flow. The trial uses consumer-presented mode: the shopper's smartphone displays a barcode carrying their stablecoin wallet address, which the Lawson till scans. JCB supplies the stablecoin payment service, including the consumer-facing payment screen and barcode generation, and takes on the merchant leg by receiving the shopper's stablecoin, aggregating proceeds, and paying the store in fiat currency. Digital Garage supplies the payment APIs and back-end systems, Lawson supplies the store and POS integration, and Canal Payment Service provides the code-payment processing. The first phase runs at the Lawson Gate City Osaki Atrium branch with staff from the three companies rather than the public, using USDC on the Base blockchain via the Base App wallet. The stated target use case is inbound visitors to Japan who would otherwise carry a currency-conversion cost. The trial measures payment-flow feasibility, POS integration requirements, checkout time, and the effect on till operations. It extends a January 2026 collaboration between Digital Garage, JCB, and Resona Holdings.