[NEWS] Orico, Slash and others to offer Japan's first international brand card, "Slash Card"

On the 13th, Slash Fintech Limited, Orient Corporation, and AIQITAS, which handle cryptocurrency (virtual currency) payments, announced that they have agreed to partner to issue "Slash Card," Japan's first BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) service secured by USD Coin (USDC).

The aim is to issue the Slash Card by the end of June this year. This card can be used at all VISA affiliated stores, just like regular credit cards and debit cards.

The roles of the three companies are as follows: Orico will be in charge of dealing with international brands as the BIN sponsor; AIQITAS will be in charge of customer management and system operation as the card issuer; Slash will develop, operate, and provide the brand for "SlashCard" as the program manager and provider of the Slash brand.

As the background to this initiative, the three companies cite the current situation in which the use of cryptocurrencies is rapidly expanding. Among them, stable coins are beginning to take shape, and are positioned as an electronic payment method in Japan as well. However, they point out that in order to use them as a payment method, it is complicated to convert them into legal tender, so a service that can handle this smoothly is required.

To improve this situation, Slash Card offers a deferred payment method secured by USD Coin, whose value is pegged to the US dollar. Users can make daily payments by linking the card to unhosted wallets such as MetaMask and Phantom.

SBI VC Trade and Coincheck are preparing to handle USD Coin. SBI VC Trade in particular is expected to start handling it by March.

While stablecoins are increasingly being used as a means of payment, they are mainly used in cryptocurrency trading. As there are currently no domestic cryptocurrency exchanges that handle them, there are limited opportunities to come into contact with them in Japan.

However, as cryptocurrency exchanges begin handling them, it is expected that the number of domestic users holding USD Coin will increase, which could lead to increased demand for payment services that support stablecoins, such as SlashCard.

Reference: Announcement
Image: Quote from the announcement

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