Japan Bitcoin Alternate Co., Ltd. has introduced Aurora, a self-custodial Bitcoin payments platform intended to help Japanese anime, manga, gaming and other content businesses accept payments from customers worldwide.
The company presented the product at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong. Aurora is designed to address payment barriers that can prevent international fans from purchasing streaming subscriptions, digital products and limited-access releases from Japanese merchants.
Payments through the Lightning Network
Aurora enables customers to pay in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network while providing merchants with tools for invoicing, payment tracking and integrations through a point-of-sale and API layer.
Japan Bitcoin Alternate says each participating merchant operates its own self-custodial Lightning node. Payments therefore go directly from customers to businesses, rather than being held by the platform operator. The company argues that this structure allows it to avoid acting as a custodian, while still helping merchants manage operational requirements such as node availability, liquidity, accounting, auditing and conversion to fiat currency.
Targeting a growing overseas market
The platform is aimed at a Japanese content market that has expanded significantly outside the country. According to Japan Bitcoin Alternate, overseas sales of Japanese anime content reached ¥2.17 trillion in 2024, representing a 26% increase from the previous year.
The company said Aurora builds on experience from UseBitcoin.jp, its existing consumer service, which has supported Lightning payments for digital gift cards including au PAY, V-Preca and Kyash for the past two years.
Japan Bitcoin Alternate is now seeking discussions with media companies, prospective merchants and wallet providers as it develops Aurora following the Hong Kong launch.
