Buying crypto with PayPay: the Binance Japan link, explained

What "PayPay crypto" actually is

Search for "PayPay crypto" and you might expect a buy button inside the PayPay app. There isn't one. What exists is a link between your PayPay balance and an account at Binance Japan, a crypto exchange registered with Japan's Financial Services Agency (registration number 00031 with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau). PayPay announced on 9 October 2025 that it had taken a 40% stake in Binance Japan, and the two have added features in stages since then.

Who sells you the crypto

Binance Japan, an FSA-registered exchange with 66 listed coins (including suspended ones), the largest line-up in Japan

What you can pay with

PayPay Money and regular PayPay Points

Minimum

¥1,000 per purchase

Cash-out fee

¥110 back to PayPay Money

Not accepted

PayPay Money Lite, limited-time points

Binance Japan is not the same as Binance.com. Binance moved its Japan-resident users to the separately licensed Japanese entity in 2023, and the global platform doesn't serve people living in Japan. If you had a Binance.com account before moving here, our offshore exchanges tracker explains where that leaves you. For a full look at the exchange itself, read the Binance Japan review.

The timeline in brief: purchases with PayPay Money and Points started on 21 November 2025; pre-funding your exchange account from PayPay and withdrawing yen back to PayPay at any time arrived on 9 April 2026; deposit limits went up on 18 August 2026. Before all this, PayPay Money could be used at LINE BITMAX, which closed on 1 June 2026.

PayPay Money vs Money Lite: why your balance might not work

This is where most people get stuck. PayPay has several kinds of balance, and only one of them buys crypto.

PayPay MoneyPayPayマネー: balance charged from a bank account, ATM or Yahoo! Flea Market sales after identity verification. It can be sent back to a bank. is balance you charged after completing PayPay's identity check (eKYC), from a bank account, an ATM or Yahoo! Flea Market sales. It can be sent to a bank account, and it works on Binance Japan. PayPay Money LitePayPayマネーライト: balance charged by PayPay Credit, PayPay Card or carrier billing, or anything charged before eKYC. Spendable, not withdrawable. is what you get when you charge with PayPay Credit, a PayPay Card or SoftBank/Y!mobile carrier billing, or when you charge anything at all before verifying your identity. It can't be withdrawn to a bank, and it can't buy crypto.

PayPay's help pages are clear that existing Money Lite never turns into Money, even after you verify. So if your balance came from a credit card top-up, you'll need to verify (if you haven't), then charge again from a bank account. PayPay Points work if you set them to "use for payments" (支払いに使う) in the PayPay app; limited-time points (期間限定) don't. Points can pay the whole amount or top up PayPay Money. For other point programmes, see buying crypto with points.

Fees and limits

Money can move between PayPay and Binance Japan three ways: paying directly at the moment of a dealer-desk purchase, pre-funding your exchange account, or withdrawing back to PayPay.

Paying at purchase is free and the simplest option, with the same ¥1,000 minimum for purchases and withdrawals. Pre-funding costs ¥110 per deposit but puts yen in your account that you can use on the order book. Binance Japan's August 2026 notice adds that if PayPay applies similar caps to other services, the limit may be counted across them combined. PayPay's own balance cap also applies, so a withdrawal that would push your PayPay balance over its limit won't go through.

How to link PayPay and Binance Japan

The link itself takes a minute; the identity checks on both sides take longer. This is the sequence described in PayPay's notice. Screen names can change between app versions, so look for the PayPay icon rather than a specific label.

1. Open and verify a Binance Japan account

   Sign up in the Binance Japan app and complete eKYCElectronic know-your-customer: online identity verification using a photo ID, a selfie or an IC-chip read.. Check the exchange's help page for the ID documents it currently accepts.

2. Verify your identity in PayPay

   Without this, every yen you charge becomes Money Lite. See the residence-card note below before you start.

3. Update the Binance Japan app

   The PayPay option appears in recent versions. If you don't see it, update first.

4. Switch on the PayPay link

   On the dealer desk (販売所)販売所 (hanbaijo): the exchange sells to you directly at a quoted price. Easy to use; the markup over market price is your cost. screen, tap the PayPay icon and agree to link the accounts. You do this once, and you can unlink at any time.

5. Buy from ¥1,000

   Enter the amount, pick PayPay Money, PayPay Points or both, and confirm. When you sell, you can choose PayPay Money as the payout.

If you're opening a Japanese exchange account for the first time, our step-by-step buying guide covers the verification screens in English.

Foreign residents: the residence-card catch

PayPay accepts residence cards for eKYC, with conditions. Its help pages say the card must have at least 90 days of validity left when you apply, and the check needs a recent app version and an NFC-capable phone. The bigger issue arrived in 2026: in a notice dated 7 July 2026, PayPay said residence cards and special permanent resident certificates issued on or after 14 June 2026 can't be used for PayPay identity verification for the time being, while it prepares support. It recommended a My Number Card for anyone who needs to verify quickly and promised to announce a start date later.

In practice: if you renewed your residence card recently, you may not be able to verify PayPay with it, and an unverified PayPay account can't buy crypto. Check PayPay's notices for an update, or use your My Number Card. Binance Japan runs its own separate identity check. Our guide for foreigners in Japan covers the wider account-opening rules for non-Japanese residents.

Cashing out to PayPay

When you sell on Binance Japan, you can take the proceeds as PayPay Money for ¥110, up to ¥1 million per 24 hours and ¥2 million per 30 days. That's ¥40 less than Binance Japan's ¥150 bank withdrawal. At launch you could only receive PayPay Money at the moment of a dealer-desk sale; since April 2026 you can also withdraw yen that's already sitting in your account.

PayPay Money can be spent at any PayPay merchant or sent on to your bank under PayPay's own rules. For larger sums, the bank route is usually more practical because of PayPay's balance cap. We compare every route from coins to yen in how to cash out crypto in Japan.

Paying less: pre-fund and use the order book

Paying with PayPay at purchase always goes through the dealer desk, where your cost is the spreadThe gap between the buy and sell price at the same moment. On a dealer desk it is the hidden fee, and it widens in volatile markets.. Binance Japan doesn't publish its dealer spread. For reference, Coincheck publishes a dealer spread range of 0.1% to 5.0%.

Pre-funding from PayPay for ¥110 lets you buy on the order book取引所 (torihikijo): a market where users trade with each other. You pay a small fee instead of a markup. instead, where Binance Japan's base-tier fee is 0.10% for makers and takers (0.075% if paid in BNB). On a ¥100,000 purchase that's ¥100 in fees plus the ¥110 deposit, about ¥210 in total. If the dealer spread is more than roughly 0.2%, the order book wins. For a few thousand yen it isn't worth the extra steps. Note that only 27 yen pairs trade on the order book against 66 coins listed overall. More numbers on our fee comparison page.

The "points investment" bitcoin course is not bitcoin

Since January 2025 the PayPay app has offered ポイント運用 ビットコインコース, a points-investment course run by PPSC Investment Service. Your PayPay Points rise and fall with the bitcoin price, but you never own any bitcoin and no securities or exchange account is involved. You can't send it to a wallet or sell it for yen on an exchange.

If you want to feel the price swings with spare points, the course does that. If you want actual bitcoin, use the Binance Japan link. Our overview of crypto inside Japanese apps lists similar pseudo-investment products from Ponta and au.

Tourists: Binance Pay at PayPay shops

Since 30 September 2026, PayPay merchants across Japan accept Binance Pay from overseas users through the cross-border QR scheme HIVEX. The shop is paid in yen. Binance Pay was cited at the launch as having about 48 million users in more than 100 countries and regions. If you're visiting Japan with a Binance account from home, you can pay with Binance Pay at shops that accept PayPay.

The feature is for inbound visitors only. Japan residents and Binance Japan customers can't use it. Where else crypto works as payment is covered in where to spend crypto in Japan.

Tax: PayPay doesn't change anything

Buying crypto with PayPay Money isn't a taxable event. Selling, swapping one coin for another, or paying with crypto is. Profits are generally miscellaneous income雑所得 (zatsu shotoku): the catch-all income category, added to your salary and taxed at your marginal rate., added to your salary and taxed at 15% to 55% in total including resident tax. Taking the proceeds as PayPay Money rather than bank yen makes no difference.

Binance Japan is a domestic registered exchange, so it issues an annual transaction report (年間取引報告書) for your return. Salaried workers with one employer and no more than ¥200,000 of other income can skip the national return, but the resident tax declaration is still needed. How to treat crypto bought with PayPay Points is a finer point; ask the tax office or a tax accountant if the amounts are significant. The full picture is in the Japan crypto tax guide.

PayPay crypto: FAQ

Keep reading

Binance Japan review

The largest coin list in Japan, plus PayPay Money

Read more →

Ways to pay for crypto

Bank transfer, instant deposit, konbini, PayPay and points

Read more →

Buy crypto with points

Rakuten, Ponta, PayPay and more compared

Read more →

Crypto for foreigners in Japan

Visas, residence cards, US persons and tourists

Read more →

Cash out crypto to yen

Routes by where your coins sit, fees and tax timing

Read more →

Japan crypto tax guide

How miscellaneous income tax works, with yen examples

Read more →