[Update, 07:00 UTC, Sept. 30: This article was updated after Binance clarified that users can pay with more than 100 supported cryptocurrencies, while USDT is used as the backend settlement layer.]
Binance Pay will allow eligible overseas users visiting Japan to spend more than 100 cryptocurrencies at the vast majority of PayPay-supported merchants starting Wednesday.
The service will run through HIVEX, a payment interoperability framework that connects overseas QR payment services to PayPay-supported merchants in Japan. Binance Pay uses Tether USDt (USDT) as its backend settlement layer, while HIVEX settles with PayPay and PayPay settles merchants in yen.
Binance told Cointelegraph it is the first crypto payment service to access PayPay-supported merchants through HIVEX. Merchants will not need to opt in separately, it said.
PayPay is a Japanese cashless payment service accepted at millions of locations nationwide, including major chains, smaller retailers, vending machines, taxis and public transportation. It lists nine other overseas payment services supported through HIVEX, mainly from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million international visitors in 2025, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. In the latest comparable global ranking, based on 2024 data, it ranked ninth worldwide and first in Asia.
The country recorded 3.1 million visitor arrivals in August, down 9.6% from a year earlier, bringing the total for the first eight months of 2026 to 27.6 million, down 2.7%, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.