Did The Rakuten Wallet Just Become A Registered Crypto Exchange?

By Rishma Banerjee

As per a press release that was published on the 25th of March, Rakuten, which is a Japanese e-commerce giant officially got the registration and approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFSA) for the Rakuten Wallet, their subsidiary cryptocurrency wallet.

The Rakuten Wallet, which was previously known as “Everybody’s Bitcoin,” has now been fully legitimized and is now to be considered as a virtual currency exchange by Japanese regulators.

It was in August of 2018, that Rakuten acquired the “Everybody’s Bitcoin” exchange for 265 million yen ($2.4 million). A series of changes have since been made to the exchange’s structure so as to ensure its registration and regulation as a virtual currency exchange by the JFSA.

The press release elaborates that he Everybody’s Bitcoin exchange will officially end its operations at the end of March, and will be then relaunched under the Rakuten Wallet name and operations.

It reads:

“Rakuten Wallet will contribute to the sound growth of the market as a virtual currency exchange company, and will further enhance security and provide enhanced services so that more customers can use it safely and with confidence.”

The company said that the details regarding the exchange’s plans,  will be revealed later. However, as the Rakuten Wallet is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, it’s the guess is that the wallet’s exchange services will eventually be incorporated into the e-commerce platform.

Japan is gearing up to be a leader in the cryptocurrency space, which is why they have taken an interest in regulations. They are setting standards to prevent things like the half-billion-dollar hack of the Japanese platform Coincheck from happening, as well as other such illegal activities that are common in the crypto space.

Rakuten Wallet is just one of many crypto-related services that’s recently received licensing from the JFSA. Another notable crypto exchange who has just received approval for licensing and is now regulated in Japan is the Taotao cryptocurrency exchange, backed by Yahoo! Japan, as well as Huobi Japan’s relaunched crypto exchange.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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