TL;DR:
- Japan Bitcoin Industry closed a private share placement for 800,043,580 yen paid entirely in Bitcoin, with a settlement date set for November 2, 2026.
- The funds come from Fulgur (the Japanese branch of Fulgur Ventures) and ANAP Lightning Capital (ALC), a subsidiary of the publicly traded firm ANAP Holdings.
- The capital will fund the infrastructure of the aurora processor to enable cross-border payments without the intermediation of traditional card networks.
Japan Bitcoin Industry marks a new corporate milestone with the funding round announced by the company for a total of ¥800,043,580. According to the market report, the transaction will be settled entirely in Bitcoin instead of fiat currency, with the date set for November 2, 2026.
The issuance of new shares was subscribed by two industry entities: Fulgur, the Japanese operational arm of the U.S. firm Fulgur Ventures, and ANAP Lightning Capital (ALC), a subsidiary of ANAP Holdings—a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard Market under ticker symbol 3189. According to disclosures released by the company, the specific breakdown of capital contributed by each investor was kept confidential.
The capital injection is allocated to the technical development and commercial rollout of aurora, the payment gateway engineered by the firm. The proceeds will also cover hiring technical staff, bolstering routing infrastructure, and funding research initiatives focused on payment channel networks.
Alongside the share placement, Japan Bitcoin Industry formalized a partnership with ALC centered on routing liquidity. Under this agreement, ALC will supply the necessary Bitcoin liquidity to open and maintain payment channels, aiming to establish a robust domestic routing operational base within Japan.
The Lightning Network architecture functions via off-chain payment channels, facilitating low-cost and near-instantaneous transfers. However, the technical model requires these channels to maintain pre-funded liquidity to route transaction flows smoothly across network nodes.
Founded in November 2024, Japan Bitcoin Industry designed aurora as an integrable solution for e-commerce carts via an application programming interface (API). The company unveiled the tool in August during the Bitcoin Asia conference held in Hong Kong.
The product targets local merchants across export sectors such as animation, video games, and adult digital content. Company documentation indicates that the solution operates on a non-custodial basis: each merchant runs their own node and the gateway never holds customer funds, eliminating the risk of cross-border payment blocks stemming from international credit card network policies.
The company also operates UseBitcoin, an e-commerce platform powered by Lightning, and brings two years of operational experience running network nodes.
Corporate backing and network adoption metrics
The investor profile underscores a dedicated commitment to Layer-2 infrastructure. Fulgur Ventures has deployed capital exclusively into Bitcoin and Lightning Network developments since 2019, having led Blockstream’s $210 million round in October 2024. According to statements by Rintaro Kawai, the firm’s representative in Japan, the venture fund plans to lead future funding rounds for the startup.
Both entities are also planning developer training programs and technical workshops centered at the Tokyo Bitcoin Base headquarters in Yotsuya and in the city of Sado, located in Niigata Prefecture.
On the corporate balance sheet front, ANAP Holdings reported a net loss of 7.32 billion yen at the close of its fiscal year in August 2026, which included a non-cash valuation impairment of 4.37 billion yen tied to its Bitcoin holdings. In the preceding fiscal year, the firm had posted a profit of 1.22 billion yen.
Despite this accounting volatility, ALC held 814 BTC following a transfer completed in July 2025. Data released by HashKey Group in April indicated that the corporate group held approximately 1,417 BTC, ranking it among the top three publicly traded companies with the largest Bitcoin treasury reserves in Japan.
Across the broader Lightning ecosystem, network performance metrics logged a transaction volume of $1.17 billion across 5.22 million transfers as of November 2025. This reflected a 300% year-over-year surge in monthly transaction volume, with an average payment size of $223, even though transaction counts remained below the high of 6.6 million recorded in August 2023.
The final execution of the capital transfer in Bitcoin for 800,043,580 yen is set to take place on November 2, 2026, officially concluding the settlement of the newly issued shares.
