Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese Market

Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese Market

Japanese mega e-commerce and internet company Rakuten Inc. is entering the crypto space. Instead of submitting a new application to the country’s financial regulator, Rakuten is acquiring an existing crypto exchange to fast-track into the Japanese crypto market.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Rakuten to Operate Crypto Exchange

Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese MarketRakuten Inc. announced Friday that “it decided to acquire Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc. through its subsidiary, Rakuten Card Co. Ltd.” After the stock acquisition, which is expected to take place on October 1, Everybody’s Bitcoin will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rakuten. The acquisition cost is listed as 256 million yen (~US$2,305,484).

The e-commerce giant wrote:

We expect that the role of cryptocurrency-based payments in e-commerce, offline retail and in P2P payments will grow in the future. In order to provide cryptocurrency payment methods smoothly, we believe it is necessary for us to provide a cryptocurrency exchange function, and have been considering entry into the cryptocurrency exchange industry as the Rakuten Group.

Furthermore, the company revealed that a growing number of its FX and securities customers “have been calling for the provision of a cryptocurrency exchange service.”

Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese MarketFounded in 1997, Rakuten claims to have more than 1.2 billion members globally. The company has over 70 businesses across e-commerce, digital content, communications, and fintech. It owns messaging app Viber and has invested heavily in car-hailing service Lyft. In 2016, the firm established a dedicated research and development unit in Belfast called Rakuten Blockchain Lab. In addition, the Japanese government gave Rakuten a concession in April to operate Japan’s fourth major wireless carrier.

About Everybody’s Bitcoin

Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese MarketKnown in Japanese as Minnano Bitcoin, Everybody’s Bitcoin began operating a crypto exchange service on March 30 last year. The exchange currently offers the trading of BTC, BCH, and ETH against the yen.

In April last year, the revised Payment Services Act went into effect in Japan, legalizing cryptocurrency as a means of payment and requiring all crypto exchanges in the country to register with the Financial Services Agency (FSA).

Everybody’s Bitcoin applied for a license on September 7, 2017, but its application is still under review. The FSA has, however, approved 16 crypto exchanges. As for those companies Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese Marketthat were already operating crypto exchanges prior to the regulation taking effect, the agency has allowed them to keep operating while their applications are being reviewed. These companies are referred to as “quasi-operators” of crypto exchanges or “deemed” crypto exchanges.

Rakuten described:

Currently, Everybody’s Bitcoin operates the business as a deemed cryptocurrency exchange and is waiting for approval of the official registration.

A Fast Track to Registration

Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese MarketSince the hack of Coincheck in January, the FSA has tightened its review process of crypto exchanges. The agency has issued a number of business improvement orders and has temporarily shut down some quasi-operators.

On April 25, Everybody’s Bitcoin received a business improvement order from the Kanto Local Finance Bureau. “Everybody’s Bitcoin is working to implement improvements in the items outlined in the business improvement order,” Rakuten detailed.

Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese MarketDue to the stricter review process, most of the 16 quasi-operators have exited the industry. The FSA confirmed this week to news.Bitcoin.com that only three applications from these operators are left. They are for Coincheck, Lastroots and Everybody’s Bitcoin.

Coincheck was acquired by Monex Group after the hack. Lastroots just had more investments from SBI Group, which also has its own crypto subsidiary, SBI Virtual Currencies, and offers a crypto trading service called Vctrade.

According to Friday’s announcement:

Rakuten Group decided to acquire Everybody’s Bitcoin shares so that it can realize the early registration as a cryptocurrency exchange and develop cryptocurrency services to customers.

According to the e-commerce giant, Everybody’s Bitcoin “decided to expand the business under the Rakuten Group to maximize synergies…in order to further promote its cryptocurrency business.”

What do you think of Rakuten fast-tracking into the Japanese crypto market? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Rakuten Inc, Everybody’s Bitcoin, Coincheck, and Lastroots.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Rakuten Acquires Crypto Exchange to Fast-Track Into the Japanese Market appeared first on Bitcoin News.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/2PqUlRU

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

L2 Crypto Project Blast Achieves $660M TVL Amid Mockery for Key Developer Recruitment

Image
Recent data reveals that Blast, the new layer two (L2) blockchain platform, has amassed a significant $660 million in value within its decentralized finance (defi) protocol. Concurrently, while accumulating a variety of crypto assets, the initiative has commenced a search for experienced senior blockchain developers. While Amassing $660M, L2 Blast Project Searches for Developers In recent times, Blast has emerged as a focal point of interest. This project, conceptualized by Pacman , the mind behind the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Blur, has rapidly gained traction. Within a span of less than a week, the platform’s total value locked (TVL) soared to approximately $400 million. Concurrently, Blast faced allegations of resembling a Ponzi scheme. During this period, Paradigm, a principal investor in the project, admitted that the team had overstepped in certain aspects of communication and implementation. Pacman has also countered the Ponzi scheme allegations and further cl
Read more

Harsh Laws Make Bitcoin Holders Consider Renunciation or Dual Citizenship

Image
As digital currencies become a mainstay in society, a great number of governments have enforced strict tax guidelines, severe money transmission rules, and tough regulations. Because of a few nation-states’ harsh rules against cryptos, there are individuals who plan to renounce their citizenship in order to become stateless. Some people will also attempt to get double-citizenship, as both of these acts may help sovereign individuals avoid government intrusion and theft. Also Read: As FATF Regulations Galvanize, Crypto Mixing Applications Are Targeted A Cryptocurrency Advocate’s Quest for Financial Sovereignty May Involve Hard Choices It’s been close to 11 years since the inception of Bitcoin and during the last few years government agencies and law enforcement have been cracking down on digital currency holders. In certain areas around the world, a few countries have extremely difficult crypto laws and stringent capital gains taxes. Countries like the U.S. have imposed strict regul
Read more

2021 Bitcoin Price Predictions: Analysts Forecast BTC Values Will Range Between Zero to $600K

Image
As bitcoin has touched new price highs on Thursday nearing the $50k handle, people have been curious as to where the price will go in the future. Meanwhile, despite the gains so far, a number of luminaries, analysts, executives, and proponents from the crypto space believe the leading crypto asset will reach between $60k to six-digits this year. Mike Novogratz Predicts $100K Bitcoin: ‘Other CFOs and CEOs Are Saying, What Should We Be Doing?’ Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention has gained mass appeal in recent times as the leading digital asset bitcoin ( BTC ) has reached its highest value ever in 2021. On Thursday morning (EST), BTC spiked to an all-time high (ATH) at $48,697 per unit. Earlier in the morning at around 2 a.m., bitcoin was exchanging hands for $44,485 and saw an 8.98% increase since then. At the time of publication, at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on February 11, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping for $47,821 per coin. With BTC so close to the $50k mark, people have been forecasting
Read more