Japan’s Internet Giant Rakuten Acquires A Tokyo-based Cryptocurrency Exchange
On Friday, August 31, Japanese internet and e-commerce retail giant Rakuten announced its acquisition of Tokyo-based ‘Everybody’s Bitcoin’ cryptocurrency exchange striking a deal of ¥265 million ($2.4 million).
In the announcement, the company said that this is a 100% stock deal between its subsidiary Rakuten Card Co., Ltd. and Traders Investment, Inc. which is the parent company of everybody’s bitcoin. The agreement between the two companies was completed yesterday while the stock acquisition process shall be completed by the first of October.
Rakuten believes that the e-commerce industry is poised to absorb cryptocurrency payments in the coming years. The company is also exploring different options for the use of digital currencies in offline retail as well as peer-to-peer payments.
Rakuten noted: “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.”
Rakuten said that there was a growing demand from its customers who “have been calling for the provision of a cryptocurrency exchange” which played an important roles in this acquisition process.
Japan has been since long known for its crypto-friendly status and holds the most active participation in terms of trading volumes in the digital currency market. In the past few years, a number of blockchain and cryptocurrency projects have fostered in the country’s crypto-friendly environment.
Rakuten was one of the early adopters of Bitcoin payments in the country’s commerce marketplace. The company during its announcement said: “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 by combining the know-how of everybody’s bitcoin as a cryptocurrency exchange, and the know-how of Rakuten Group as a provider of various financial services.”
Everybody’s Bitcoin exchange was launched last year in March 2017. The exchange, however, came under the regulatory sight of the Japanese watchdog Financial Services Agency (FSA) for non-procurement of official license to operate in the country. Rakuten said that the crypto exchange is “working to implement improvements” and plans to “register officially” with the FSA.