Japanese Electronics Retail Giant Launches Bitcoin Payments

Major Japanese consumer electronics retailer Yamada Denki has partnered with cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer to add a bitcoin payments service in two of its stores.

Launched this weekend, according to a press release, one of the stores to receive the new service is based in Shinjuku, an area of Tokyo that attracts large numbers of foreign visitors. The other store is adjacent to Tokyo's main business district.

The company said:

"In addition to diversifying [our services], we will implement initiatives to improve bitcoin recognition and usage promotion."

With the launch of the bitcoin payment system, the company indicated it aims to respond to the diverse needs of its customers both in Japan and overseas. "We believe that we can provide improved service and convenience," it said.

Yamada Denki has set the settlement limit of bitcoins equivalent to 300,000 Japanese yen ($2,760) per account. Bitcoin is trading around $11,200 (1,218,016 JPY) at the time of writing, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

The moves comes after another Japanese electronics retailer, Bic Camera, said last April that it will test a new point-of-sale system (PoS) that will allow customers to purchase goods with bitcoin, also in partnership with with bitFlyer. Later in July, the firm said that it is expanding a bitcoin payment option to all of its stores nationwide.

And, in August, Tokyo-based Marui, a department store chain, tested bitcoin payments at one of its locations in Shinjuku. The trial set a cap of ¥100,000 (about $900) on bitcoin transactions.

Disclaimer: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in bitFlyer.

Editor's Note: Statements in this article have been translated from Japanese.

Yamada storefront image via Shutterstock