Japan Bitcoin Industry raises ¥800 million in BTC to build Lightning payments

Japan Bitcoin Industry said it will issue new shares to Fulgur, the Japanese arm of US venture firm Fulgur Ventures, and ANAP Lightning Capital (ALC), a subsidiary of Tokyo-listed ANAP Holdings, for 800,043,580 yen, with payment due November 2 in Bitcoin. The company, founded in November 2024, offers aurora, a Lightning payment option merchants can add through an API. It plans to use the proceeds for aurora, hiring, routing operations and research. Alongside the sale, it signed a business alliance with ALC on Lightning routing; ALC will supply Bitcoin to fund payment channels as they seek a domestic routing base. Lightning is a Bitcoin system that uses pre-funded channels to process small payments quickly and cheaply off the main blockchain.