Bitcoin Magazine

Japanese Bitcoin Industry Unveils ‘Aurora’ to Let Global Anime Fans Support $2 Trillion Yen Space

Japan Bitcoin Industry Co., Ltd. has debuted a self-custodial Bitcoin payments platform designed to help Japanese companies sell to international fans who are often shut out by traditional payment systems.

Using this week’s Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong to introduce the product, JPI dropped Aurora — aiming to reach an audience that could not be serviced before. 

The pitch is simple: anime, manga, games, and other Japanese content have a massive global following, but the payment rails supporting that content haven’t kept pace. 

香港で開催中のbitcoinasiaに当社取締役の加藤( @btc_dakara ) が登壇します。ビットコインとステーブルコインの関係について登壇者の方々とお話しいたします。 https://t.co/8e1aKAvjgv

— 日本ビットコイン産業株式会社 (@JBIinc_bitcoin) August 27, 2026

Aurora aims to close that gap by letting international customers pay in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network, while giving Japanese merchants a simple point-of-sale and API layer to manage invoicing, payment tracking, and integrations.

According to JBI, the market for Japanese anime content outside Japan reached ¥2.17 trillion in 2024, up 26% year-over-year — yet many overseas fans still struggle to pay for streaming subscriptions, digital merchandise and limited-access drops due to geographic payment restrictions.

The platform’s core design principle is that JBI never touches the money. Each merchant runs its own self-custodial Lightning node, receiving Bitcoin directly from customers. 

JBI says this setup gives businesses cleaner regulatory footing, since the company isn’t acting as a custodian, while still handling the harder operational lift — node uptime, liquidity, accounting and auditing, and conversion to fiat — that has historically kept enterprises from adopting Bitcoin payments on their own.

JBI says aurora draws on lessons from its existing consumer business, UseBitcoin.jp, which has let customers buy digital gift cards — including au PAY, V-Preca and Kyash cards — using Lightning payments for the past two years.

The company is inviting media, prospective merchants and wallet providers to connect with the team at Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong.

This post Japanese Bitcoin Industry Unveils ‘Aurora’ to Let Global Anime Fans Support $2 Trillion Yen Space first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

The 1973 cult-classic anime film moves like a furious Georgia O'Keeffe painting come to life, chasing revenge straight into the devil's embrace.

Giant anime robots are landing in the Seattle area.

Bandai Namco is opening an official Gundam Base retail store at Westfield Southcenter mall in Tukwila, Wash., this fall, giving Pacific Northwest anime and model-kit fans a permanent flagship destination for all things Gunpla.

For the uninitiated, Gundam isn’t just a nostalgic cartoon; it’s a massive, multibillion-dollar global media franchise that revolutionized Japanese animation when the original “Mobile Suit Gundam” series debuted in 1979.

Owned by Tokyo-based entertainment giant Bandai Namco, the IP spans decades of TV shows, video games, and movies, but its biggest cash cow is “Gunpla” — a portmanteau of “Gundam” and “plastic model.”

Unlike standard pre-assembled action figures, Gunpla kits are snap-together, highly engineered mechanical puzzles that fans clip off plastic runners and assemble by hand, ranging from entry-level builds to ultra-intricate models with thousands of pieces.

Bandai Namco says the new Southcenter location will be built around four core pillars for visitors: “watch, buy, build, and learn.”

Rather than functioning as a standard retail shop, the flagship is designed as an experiential destination. Shoppers can expect life-sized mecha statues and immersive themed environments for photo ops, alongside displays featuring fully painted master builds spanning 45-plus years of Gundam lore.

The store will carry model kits catering to every skill level — from beginner-friendly “Entry Grade” sets to complex “Perfect Grade” builds — along with exclusive, store-only Gunpla kits and limited-edition merchandise. The location will also feature community spaces hosting building workshops, special activations, and hands-on guidance from staff.

The Tukwila store is part of a broader U.S. brick-and-mortar push by Bandai Namco. Alongside the Southcenter opening, the company is launching a location at the Mall of America in Minneapolis this fall. Both follow the late-2025 debut of The Gundam Base Chicago at Fashion Outlets of Chicago — the entertainment giant’s first permanent retail footprint in North America.

Watch a video tour from the Chicago store:

Vietnamese police, aided by US Homeland Security and ACE, arrested seven people accused of running HiAnime, tied to $12.85M in ad revenue.