Bitcoin Japan wins exclusive Japan rights to six UBTech humanoids
Bitcoin Japan, the Tokyo-listed company formerly called Hotta Marusho, said in a filing on Oct 16 that its board approved an exclusive contract to sell six UBTech humanoid models in Japan, from the Walker S2 to the Cruzr S2.
The 36-month exclusivity starts only when the Walker C1 is certified in Japan, Bitcoin Japan will hold the certifications, and prices and the prepayment were not disclosed.
A small Tokyo-listed company that announced its entry into physical AI only in September is to become the only door into Japan for UBTech's humanoid robots. Bitcoin Japan, the former Hotta Marusho (8105, TSE Standard), said in a filing on Oct 16 that its board had approved an exclusive distribution contract with UBTech Robotics Limited, the Hong Kong subsidiary of Shenzhen's UBTech Robotics (9880.HK), covering six humanoid and service-robot models and their successors.
The filing is unusually detailed about the robots and unusually silent about the money. It names the products, the territory and the certification route, but says prices, purchase terms and the size of the prepayment that triggers exclusivity are confidential. Whether this is a real sales channel or a listing story depends on a date neither company has given.
What the contract covers and when the clock starts
The six models are the Walker S2, Walker Tienkung, Tienkung Dex, Sky Walker, Walker C1 and Cruzr S2, plus improved and successor versions, Bitcoin Japan said. Once the contract is signed and the prepayment paid, UBTech will appoint no other distributor in Japan, will pass Japanese enquiries to Bitcoin Japan, including those from universities, research institutes and public bodies, and will supply Japanese customers only through it, except in certain cases involving existing customers. Rights include sale, distribution, lease, rental and supply as a service.
The exclusivity runs for 36 months and can be renewed by agreement, but it is counted from the day the Walker C1, the first model, completes Japanese certification. Bitcoin Japan will be the applicant and holder for the notification under the Electrical Appliances and Materials Safety Act and the construction-design certification under the Radio Act, with UBTech supplying technical documents. Before certification it may still import robots for research, experiments, data collection and demonstrations allowed under Japanese law. The board resolution, signing and start of the alliance were all dated Oct 16; the effect on results for the year to March 2027 is under review.
- Board resolution and signing
- Oct 16, 2026 (signing scheduled the same day)
- Territory
- Japan
- Products
- Walker S2, Walker Tienkung, Tienkung Dex, Sky Walker, Walker C1, Cruzr S2, successors
- Rights
- Exclusive sale, distribution, lease, rental, supply as a service
- Term
- 36 months from Walker C1 certification in Japan, renewable by agreement
- Exceptions
- Certain cases involving existing customers
- Certifications
- Bitcoin Japan applies and holds; UBTech supplies technical documents
- Prices, terms, prepayment
- Not disclosed (confidential)
- Earnings effect, FY to March 2027
- Under review
Source: Bitcoin Japan timely disclosure of Oct 16, 2026.
As of Oct 16, 2026
The certification step is the hinge of the deal, which raises the question of what Bitcoin Japan plans to do with the robots before it.
A paid trial first, then sale, lease or RaaS
Bitcoin Japan described a staged model that starts with paid proofs of concept testing performance, reliability, systems integration and the customer's economics, aimed first at manufacturing and logistics. Customers could then buy robots with integration support or lease them or take them as robot-as-a-service. It also lists after-sales service and data-as-a-service, meaning contract data collection, annotation and datasets for physical-AI development, and says the data business does not widen the sales rights. The company calls all of these planned revenue models, not confirmed revenue.
The filing frames the contract as the operating half of a two-part strategy announced on Sept 17, when Bitcoin Japan started a physical-AI business and reordered the use of funds it had raised. The investment half is a stake held by its group in Figure AI, the US humanoid maker valued at $39 billion after its September 2025 Series C. The filing gives no size for that stake.
What UBTech brings, in its own numbers
Bitcoin Japan's reasons for choosing UBTech are UBTech's published results. In the six months to June 30, 2026, revenue rose 104.2% to RMB1,269.1 million and full-size humanoid products and services brought in RMB590.3 million from 921 units, with a loss of RMB338.8 million, the filing says. MEKAWIRE's calculation from those figures: humanoids were 46.5% of revenue, and each unit brought in about RMB641,000, or roughly 15.3 million yen at the filing's exchange rate. The filing also cites a Liuzhou plant opened in September with capacity for more than 10,000 humanoids a year; annualised first-half sales of 1,842 units would fill about 18% of it.
- FY2023
- 23,679m yen
- -26,751m yen
- -113.0%
- FY2024
- 29,262m yen
- -25,450m yen
- -87.0%
- FY2025
- 44,869m yen
- -16,190m yen
- -36.1%
- H1 2026
- RMB1,269.1m (+104.2%)
- Loss for the period RMB338.8m
- n/a
- H1 2026 humanoids
- RMB590.3m, 921 units
- About RMB641,000 per unit
- 46.5% of revenue
Annual figures converted by Bitcoin Japan from UBTech's ASBE accounts at 22.42328 yen per yuan; ratios and per-unit revenue are MEKAWIRE calculations (operating result / revenue; humanoid revenue / units). Disclosed figures, not estimates.
As of Oct 16, 2026
UBTech's yen-converted results in the filing show revenue up 53.3% in 2025 and the operating loss shrinking from 113.0% of revenue in 2023 to 36.1% in 2025 (MEKAWIRE calculation). For UBTech, Japan is one more market added without capital: the certification work and the customer risk sit with the Tokyo partner.
Japan is a hard market to sell foreign humanoids into
Japan installed 36,219 industrial robots in 2025, a ten-year low, the International Federation of Robotics said, and its own makers ship most of their output abroad, as the MEKAWIRE Japan market explainer sets out. Its physical-AI push runs through alliances of FANUC, Yaskawa, Kawasaki and Hitachi with foreign AI platforms rather than through start-ups. A foreign humanoid sold by a newcomer has to win trials against that installed base.
UBTech already has Japanese footholds. GA Robotics has presented itself as UBTech's authorised Japanese agent in its own releases, most recently on Sept 24, and Honda Trading's China arm said in April that it would run humanoid trials with UBTech's UQI unit. The carve-out for existing customers is where those relationships will meet the new exclusivity.
MEKAWIRE analysis
Bitcoin Japan has bought an option on UBTech's Japanese market, not a sales business: the 36-month exclusivity is worth nothing until the Walker C1 is certified, and no date for that has been given.
The evidence is in the structure. Revenue models are labelled as plans, the earnings effect is under review, commercial terms are secret and the clock starts at certification. The strongest counter-argument is that holding the certifications gives Bitcoin Japan a real asset, because any Japanese customer of these models must go through it, and as applicant it controls the timetable itself.
Bull case: the Walker C1 is certified in early 2027, paid trials at manufacturers and logistics operators turn into RaaS fleets, and data services give the company a recurring line. Bear case: certification slips, existing UBTech channels keep the early customers, and the contract remains a story for the share price rather than a source of revenue.
What would change our view: a certification date, a named first customer, or the size of the prepayment. Signals to watch are Bitcoin Japan's next timely disclosure on contract signing and certification, its results for the half to September 2026 with any guidance revision, and UBTech's 2026 annual results in March 2027, which will show whether overseas sales, Japan included, move the humanoid line.
- Bitcoin Japan (8105, TSE Standard) timely disclosure, Oct 16, 2026
- Walker S2, Walker Tienkung, Tienkung Dex, Sky Walker, Walker C1, Cruzr S2 and successors
- 36 months, renewable, from Walker C1 certification in Japan
- UBTech Robotics Limited (Hong Kong), 100% owned by UBTech Robotics Corp. (9880.HK)
- Prices, purchase terms, prepayment amount
- Revenue RMB1,269.1m, humanoids RMB590.3m from 921 units
- Manufacturing and logistics, paid proofs of concept first
- Bitcoin Japan (Electrical Appliances and Materials Safety Act, Radio Act)
- About RMB641,000 (MEKAWIRE calculation)
Why it matters
This filing gives a Chinese humanoid maker a Tokyo-listed exclusive partner that will also hold the Japanese certifications, which means any Japanese factory or warehouse that wants to trial a Walker S2 or Walker C1 now deals with a Tokyo company whose robotics history began this autumn.
The contract also tests a model other Chinese makers will copy if it works: hand the regulatory work and customer risk to a local listed partner, keep the hardware margin, and let the partner build service and data revenue on top.
Rival analysis
Japanese makers are building their own humanoid capability. Kawasaki, whose Kaleido humanoid work with the Matsuo Institute MEKAWIRE covered on Oct 19, is one example.
The nearest competitive threat to Bitcoin Japan is inside the UBTech family: GA Robotics, which calls itself UBTech's authorised Japanese agent, and UBTech's UQI unit, which works with Honda Trading in China. How the existing-customer carve-out is drawn will decide how much of the early market the new exclusive actually covers.
Valuation context
No price or prepayment is disclosed, so the deal cannot be valued. What can be measured is the product's price point: UBTech's first-half humanoid revenue works out at about RMB641,000 per unit, roughly 15 million yen, before Japanese margin, certification and service costs.
For Bitcoin Japan the value question is whether a 36-month exclusive whose start date is unknown deserves the weight markets gave it. Its Figure AI stake, held at group level, is the other half of the story and is not sized in the filing.
Supply-chain implications
All six products come from UBTech's plants in China, including the Liuzhou factory the filing says can make more than 10,000 humanoids a year. Japanese content is limited to certification, integration and service, so currency, export controls and any tightening of Japanese rules on Chinese connected devices fall directly on the channel.
The data-as-a-service plan adds a second exposure: data collected at Japanese customer sites must be handled under Japan's personal information law and customer contracts, which the filing itself flags as preconditions.
Signals to watch
1. A disclosure that the contract has been signed and the prepayment paid, which formally starts UBTech's no-other-distributor obligation. 2. Completion of Electrical Appliances and Materials Safety Act and Radio Act certification for the Walker C1, which starts the 36-month clock. 3. Bitcoin Japan's half-year results to September 2026 and any revision of its forecast for the year to March 2027.
Analyst view
Thesis: an option on a market, not yet a business. Confidence: medium. The filing is specific on products and rights, which makes it more than a memorandum, but every revenue line is labelled as planned and the earnings effect is unquantified.
We would raise confidence on a certification date and a first named paying customer, and lower it if the existing-customer exception turns out to cover UBTech's current Japanese buyers.
Questions you should be asking
What is the prepayment and how is it accounted for? When will the Walker C1 certification application be filed, and has any testing body been engaged? Which existing UBTech customers in Japan fall under the exception, and does it include GA Robotics' accounts? How much of the funds raised before Sept 17 is allocated to robot inventory, and how large is the group's Figure AI stake?