“‘I love gaming,’ Linmic, Founder and CEO of Tokenz says with a laugh, ‘I mean, I used to sneak in mobile games between meetings—and yeah, I’d keep topping up.’”, as he shares the origin story behind his startup. “One day, I noticed that the same game credits were much cheaper on third-party websites. That made me wonder: what’s really going on behind the scenes?”
Like many avid gamers in Taiwan, Linmic was no stranger to spending heavily on digital content. But unlike most, his curiosity about the price discrepancy led him deep into the world of payments and taxes.
What he uncovered was the impact of the hefty 30% commission fees charged by Apple and Google—a discovery that would eventually lead him to found Tokenz. As the first startup in Asia to fully adopt the Merchant of Record (MoR) model, Tokenz helps developers bypass platform fees, retain more of their earnings, and seamlessly manage the complex web of tax compliance and regulations.
The 30% Apple Fee and the Hidden Costs of Going Indie
For years, the 30% cut taken by Apple and Google has been a thorn in the side of game studios and app developers. To avoid it, many developers set up independent web stores, directing users to make purchases outside of app marketplaces. While this strategy helps reduce platform costs, it also exposes developers to a new world of complexity—one filled with risks related to cross-border payments, tax compliance, and legal regulations. Failure to handle these properly can result in hefty fines or legal trouble.
Laying the Infrastructure for Asian Digital Creators—Backed by ¥200 Million in Seed Funding
This is precisely where Tokenz steps in: as the infrastructure provider for developers charting their own course. Once creators choose to bypass traditional platforms, Tokenz becomes the road beneath their wheels.
Fast forward to 2025, and Tokenz has secured ¥200 million (approximately NT$60 million) in seed funding. The round was led by Japan’s Coral Capital, with participation from Silicon Valley giant NEA, Japan’s Global Brains, Plug and Play Japan, and Cherubic Ventures.
Tokenz now supports a wide range of digital content providers—from gaming and anime to e-books, livestreaming, and SaaS—helping them streamline cross-border payments and tax processes.
“For developers in Asia, the biggest challenge in going global isn’t building great products—it’s the invisible wall of financial and legal complexities behind the scenes,” Linmic explains.
Tokenz was built to remove these barriers, handling the back-office headaches so creators can stay focused on what they do best—building engaging games, software, online courses, or content platforms.
With Tokenz’s one-stop solution, the cost and complexity of entering overseas markets drops dramatically—opening up new revenue streams for creators across Asia.
A New Revenue Pipeline for Creators
In the mobile gaming industry alone, over 70% of the world’s top 20 publishers have established their own direct-to-consumer web stores. Data shows that when managed well, these stores can drive 20–30% revenue growth. Tokenz empowers more developers to follow this path, unlocking global markets with ease and helping replicate the success of major players.
What Is a MoR (Merchant of Record), and Why Has Asia Been Left Behind?
“To give you an example,” Linmic explains, “when you buy an eBook on Amazon, you might assume Amazon is selling it directly to you. But in many cases, it’s a MoR company like us handling the transaction. We purchase the item under our own name, then resell it to you. That’s the only legal way we can collect payments and handle taxes across different regions.”
A Merchant of Record, or MoR, is a legally recognized entity that acts as the official seller in a transaction. MoR providers are authorized to operate as resellers on behalf of digital product creators, taking on responsibilities such as payment processing, fund transfers and refunds, fraud prevention, risk management, and global tax compliance.
This becomes especially critical when selling digital products internationally. Without a MoR partner, developers face the daunting challenge of navigating each country’s unique tax laws. From calculating precise sales tax on every transaction to knowing which jurisdiction the revenue falls under—and registering accordingly in each market—international digital sales can quickly turn into a legal and logistical nightmare.
By working with a MoR provider, developers can offload these burdens and focus on creating great products, while the MoR handles the operational and regulatory complexities behind the scenes.
What many overlook is that Apple’s App Store and Google Play are themselves functioning as MoRs, quietly managing cross-border taxes, currency exchange, and payments for developers. This is a key reason why the system feels deceptively seamless—but also why, when developers seek to build their own web-based stores, they quickly realize how essential MoR infrastructure is to stay compliant and competitive.
With antitrust laws gaining traction around the world, it’s more important than ever for developers to build outside the app store ecosystem. But doing so without a MoR solution in place can lead to regulatory risks that outweigh the benefits.
Why Tokenz Isn’t Just Another MoR—And How It Differs from the Big Four
In the West, the MoR model is nothing new. In the U.S., the complexity of varying state tax laws has long mirrored the challenges of international sales. Companies like Paddle have emerged to serve this need, building robust MoR solutions for SaaS businesses and operating successfully for years.
But Asia is a different story. The region’s diversity of tax regimes, language barriers, and cultural nuances—combined with a general lack of awareness around cross-border compliance—have made the MoR model almost nonexistent locally. Especially in digital content sectors like comics, eBooks, livestreaming, and virtual goods, regional MoR solutions are still practically unheard of. While some services exist for physical goods, their models don’t translate well to the digital realm.
“In the past, companies looking to expand overseas would immediately turn to the Big Four accounting firms,” says Linmic. “But they can only help you file taxes—they can’t help you sell, collect payments, process refunds, or manage risk.”
The Big Four offer consultancy services. They help ensure regulatory processes are followed, but they don’t assume any legal role in the transaction. In contrast, the core value of the MoR model lies in becoming the legal seller of record—stepping directly into the transaction and absorbing its financial and legal risks.
“And let’s be honest,” Linmic adds, “working with the Big Four often means coordinating with multiple offices across every target market. Online commerce has no borders. In theory, each transaction could touch hundreds of jurisdictions. Making that compliant with consultants alone is not only expensive—it’s painfully slow and doesn’t solve the practical problems of payment and tax execution.”
That’s exactly where the MoR model shines. It’s not just about giving advice—it’s about hands-on execution. MoR partners do the heavy lifting, allowing developers to focus on product and growth instead of getting buried in back-office chaos.
But even globally, true MoR providers are rare—and most come with limitations. Take Paddle, for instance: it’s largely focused on SaaS. Its strength lies in that niche, but that also means it’s ill-suited for Asia’s fast-evolving digital content ecosystem, which spans manga, eBooks, livestreaming, stickers, virtual items, and online courses.
The Risks Behind the MoR Model: What Most Don’t See
Being a Merchant of Record (MoR) also comes with its share of responsibilities—and risks. At the heart of the MoR model is a simple but weighty premise: the provider acts as the legal seller on record, taking over all backend responsibilities related to payments, taxation, and compliance. This means that from the moment a customer clicks “purchase,” the MoR provider assumes full accountability for everything that follows.
Take payments, for instance. If a customer disputes a transaction or initiates a chargeback, the MoR is the one dealing with frozen funds or clawbacks from the bank. On the tax side, the complexity is often vastly underestimated. Different countries have different tax attribution rules—some based on IP address, others on the issuing bank, and some requiring local tax registration before a sale is even allowed. Mishandling any of these variables can easily lead to substantial fines.
On top of that, regulatory frameworks for payments and transactions vary widely by country. Even minor errors in compliance can have legal repercussions. Then there’s consumer-side risk: failed deliveries, accidental charges, or disputes over refunds all require the MoR to step in, collect evidence, and resolve the issue.
A Local Team with Global Experience
That’s why choosing the right MoR provider is critical—not just one that can handle the risks, but one that deeply understands the nuances of local regulations and cultural context. “Most Western MoR solutions simply weren’t built for Asia,” says Linmic. “They don’t have local teams, they don’t understand regional tax rules or business etiquette—and if you send them a question in Japanese or Chinese, it can take weeks or even a month to get a reply.”
Recognizing that no existing solution truly served Asia, Linmic set out to build one himself—Tokenz.
Having been part of the founding team at Japanese fintech unicorn Paidy, Linmic was deeply involved in the company’s journey—from MVP development to its acquisition by PayPal. That experience gave him a unique perspective on the regulatory and technical complexities of building compliant payment systems across borders. “That journey taught me how to build the right product, assemble the right team, and tackle the hard problems,” he says.
“You can only handle all of this if you’re the actual seller in the transaction,” Linmic emphasizes. “That gives you both the right and the responsibility to act on behalf of your customers.”
As of March 2025, Tokenz supports businesses in over 170 regions, offers more than 200 local payment options, and handles most major global currencies. With offices in Japan, Singapore, Lithuania, Taiwan, and the U.S., the company is steadily building a new outbound infrastructure—one built in Asia, for Asia.
Built for Growth, Priced for Flexibility
One of Tokenz’s strongest advantages is pricing flexibility. Linmic acknowledges that, as a growing startup, Tokenz doesn’t carry the same organizational overhead as its Western counterparts. This allows them to offer more adaptable, cost-effective solutions—a huge win for small and mid-sized developers.
The team’s composition also sets Tokenz apart. Its core members hail from companies like Paidy, Tencent Games, Stripe, and ByteDance, with deep operational experience across Japan, China, and the United States. This gives the team not just technical expertise, but also a cultural and regulatory fluency that’s critical for operating across Asia.
“We’re a team born and raised in Asia,” Linmic says. “We know how to talk to people in these markets, and we have the deep industry know-how and relationships to move things forward. That’s not something a foreign competitor can solve with a translation team.”
With its localized foundation, flexible pricing, and regulatory depth, Tokenz is not just riding the wave of Asia’s digital commerce boom—it’s laying the infrastructure for it.
Regulatory Pressure Is Mounting—”Compliant and Confident Global Expansion” Is No Longer Optional
In recent years, global regulatory bodies have tightened oversight on digital platforms, particularly around virtual goods and in-game transactions. In 2024, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a landmark clarification: if a gaming platform allows users to purchase virtual currency with real money and facilitates transactions, it is classified as a financial service—and is therefore subject to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA).
Originally designed to protect consumers in electronic payments—covering areas such as refunds, dispute resolution, and fraud prevention—the EFTA now formally applies to gaming ecosystems, effectively pulling platforms into the domain of financial regulation.
Meanwhile, on the international front, the OECD has introduced a global framework for VAT and GST collection on cross-border digital transactions. The goal is simple: to ensure that foreign digital goods providers pay their fair share of taxes, creating a level playing field for local businesses.
Under OECD guidelines, platforms or non-resident vendors bear the responsibility for collecting and remitting taxes. This means marketplaces like the App Store and Google Play are now required to withhold and pay tax at the point of sale—a move designed not only to bolster national tax revenues but also to create fairer market competition for domestic companies.
These shifts aren’t limited to the West. Japan has stepped up enforcement of tax compliance for foreign firms generating domestic revenue. Epic Games, for example, was recently ordered to pay ¥3.5 billion (approximately NT$770 million) in back taxes and penalties for failing to declare in-game purchases from Japanese users on its hit title Fortnite. Similarly, Hong Kong-based Yotta Games was found non-compliant and hit with a tax and penalty bill of ¥1.8 billion (around NT$388 million).
Japan’s National Tax Agency further tightened the rules in 2024, announcing that, starting in April 2025, all non-Japanese companies providing services to Japanese consumers via platforms like Apple or Google will be subject to a 10% consumption tax, to be withheld and remitted by the platform itself. For businesses relying on these platforms, it’s yet another layer of pressure added to an already complex regulatory landscape.
These new compliance demands are also looming large for developers and content creators in Taiwan. “A lot of developers in Taiwan are highly competitive in terms of product quality,” says Linmic, “but when it comes to going global, they often get stuck navigating regulatory requirements, tax treatment, or payment flows.”
As more countries ramp up their enforcement, companies without a clear handle on accounting and compliance may find themselves among the first to be penalized. And in this environment, ignorance is no longer an excuse—it’s a liability.
“Is Accepting Credit Cards Enough?” Overlooking Local Payment Methods Could Cost You Up to 50% in Cross-Border Revenue
“Many companies still believe that as long as they can accept credit card payments, they’re ready to sell digital content internationally,” says Linmic. “But that’s one of the most common—and most costly—misconceptions.”
Global market data shows a quiet but significant shift in consumer behavior when it comes to downloadable digital content: the share of credit card payments is declining, while local payment methods are rapidly gaining ground. Take Japan, for example. “According to our data,” Linmic explains, “credit cards account for only about half of all digital content purchases. And in industries like online gaming, webtoons, or e-learning, the ratio is even lower.”
The problem? Gaining access to local payment options is notoriously difficult for foreign businesses. Between language barriers, strict vetting requirements, and the need to establish a local presence, many companies simply can’t make it past the front door. The compliance costs are steep, and building a local team demands serious capital—making it nearly impossible for companies that just want to test the waters.
Building the Highway for Asia’s Digital Creators—From Day One
In a world where regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, platform fees are rising, and tax risk is ever-present, the ability to launch globally—legally and confidently—is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity.
Tokenz is setting out to build that highway—an infrastructure that allows Asian content creators to take their ideas global from day one. “If developers can sell to the world from the very first day they launch,” Linmic says, “then the creative talent, technology, and content coming out of Asia will finally have the reach and recognition it deserves.”
With Tokenz, it’s no longer about whether a company can go global—it’s about how fast and sustainably they can scale across borders, without tripping over compliance hurdles or leaving money on the table.
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“Is Accepting Credit Cards Enough?” Overlooking Local Payment Methods Could Cost You Up to 50% in Cross-Border Revenue
“Many companies still believe that as long as they can accept credit card payments, they’re ready to sell digital content internationally,” says Linmic. “But that’s one of the most common—and most costly—misconceptions.”
Global market data shows a quiet but significant shift in consumer behavior when it comes to downloadable digital content: the share of credit card payments is declining, while local payment methods are rapidly gaining ground. Take Japan, for example. “According to our data,” Linmic explains, “credit cards account for only about half of all digital content purchases. And in industries like online gaming, webtoons, or e-learning, the ratio is even lower.”
The problem? Gaining access to local payment options is notoriously difficult for foreign businesses. Between language barriers, strict vetting requirements, and the need to establish a local presence, many companies simply can’t make it past the front door. The compliance costs are steep, and building a local team demands serious capital—making it nearly impossible for companies that just want to test the waters.
Building the Highway for Asia’s Digital Creators—From Day One
In a world where regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, platform fees are rising, and tax risk is ever-present, the ability to launch globally—legally and confidently—is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity.
Tokenz is setting out to build that highway—an infrastructure that allows Asian content creators to take their ideas global from day one. “If developers can sell to the world from the very first day they launch,” Linmic says, “then the creative talent, technology, and content coming out of Asia will finally have the reach and recognition it deserves.”
With Tokenz, it’s no longer about whether a company can go global—it’s about how fast and sustainably they can scale across borders, without tripping over compliance hurdles or leaving money on the table.
This article has been contributed to Asia Tech Daily.
