Japan was one of the most cash-loving rich countries in the world when PayPay launched in October 2018. The app let shoppers pay by scanning a QR code at the counter, and it built its system with help from Paytm, the Indian payments company. SoftBank and Yahoo Japan set it up as a joint venture. By the time PayPay listed in New York in March 2026, it had tens of millions of users and millions of merchants.

A SoftBank Joint Venture

PayPay was founded in Tokyo in June 2018. Its parents were SoftBank and Yahoo Japan, and it is now part of LY Corporation, which SoftBank controls. The bet was that phones could replace cash at the shop counter, from big chains to corner stores. A merchant needed little more than a printed QR code at the register. PayPay then added credit cards, banking, and other financial services, so that everyday payments became the front door to everything else.

Below the Range

PayPay priced its American depositary shares at $16 on March 11, 2026, below its range of $17 to $20. It raised $880 million at a value of about $10.7 billion and listed on Nasdaq under PAYP. The stock rose about 13 percent on its first day. By October 2026 it traded about 10 percent below its offer price. PayPay still trades on Nasdaq under PAYP.

Cover: Nihonbashi, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)", Katsushika Hokusai. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for Nihonbashi, the merchant heart of old Tokyo.