Japanese e-commerce giant, Rakuten which has a market capitalization of over 1.2 trillion JPY (353 trillion THB), plans to acquire new domestic cryptocurrency exchange, Everybody’s Bitcoin, for 265 million JPY (78 million THB), according to a recent announcement.

 

Everybody’s Bitcoin, a Japanese unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange, was investigated by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), following a Coincheck crypto hack in January, as the regulatory measure solicited business protection and security advancements.

However, Rakuten plans to facilitate its internal systems in an attempt to meet with the regulatory policies by obtaining a license. The recent announcement indicated that Everybody’s Bitcoin reported a net loss of 49 million JPY (14 million THB) on 30th March and the deal is expected to be finalized by 1 October, 2018.

 

Following Rakuten’s plan to acquire Everyday’s Bitcoin, says it has been “considering entry into the cryptocurrency exchange industry” it believes that “the role of cryptocurrency-based payments in e-commerce, offline retail and in P2P payments will grow in the future,” continuing that:

“In order to provide cryptocurrency payment methods smoothly, we believe it is necessary for us to provide a cryptocurrency exchange function.”

 

Rakuten also indicated that the purpose of acquiring a bitcoin exchange is influenced by the increasing amount of foreign exchange users who are asking for the offering of a cryptocurrency exchange service, however, promising a potential business opportunities. Rakuten has already been planning to introduce its own cryptocurrency to facilitate its business operations world over.

Bitkub.com