Rakuten New Payment App Supports Crypto
Rakuten, which is an e-commerce firm based in Japan, has recently announced a major update of its titular mobile app called Rakuten Pay. The update, in particular, is expected to be released come March this year. The announcement was made during the company’s 2018 earnings.
‘All Payment Solutions’
According to the official report, the aforementioned app’s structure is expected to support crypto payments in addition to fiat. In a nutshell, it will feature all sorts of payments solutions that are embedded into a single platform.
As previously reported in January – including recent materials from different media outlets – the formerly known as the Amazon of Japan unleashed a revision to its corporate structure. The newly restructured firm includes its very own digital currency exchange called “Everybody’s Bitcoin,” which is basically part of the newly-established payments subsidiary known as Rakuten Payment.
The payment subsidiary was previously hailed as Rakuten’s loyalty subsidiary name and, in the past, it was working under the name of “Spotlight.” Interestingly, it is going to include the company’s Rakuten Edy, which is its prepaid card service.
Platform For Crypto Payments
The corporation’s earnings release suggests that Edy is expected to be supported in the forthcoming updated app. At the same time, it will indicate support designed specifically for the QR code payments. It holds true that the app, in one way or another, does not necessarily note digital currency support. However, the firm’s specification that “all payments solutions” are to be supported on the platform indicates for digital currency payments as a part of its Rakuten Payment subsidiary.
The company was successful in acquiring Everybody’s Bitcoin, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, and it happened back in August last year. The figure involved was roughly $2.4 million. During that time, the firm’s representatives revealed that the company was strongly considering the idea of gaining entry into the digital currency exchange industry. This is due to the fact that the firm believes there is a much-needed role in crypto-based payments in offline retail, e-commerce, and P2P payments. And this role, in particular, is expected to gain a substantial growth in the future.
In its earnings release, Rakuten reiterated a net income for last year of around 141.9 billion yen or $1.3 billion. This is without a doubt a 28.4 percent year-over-year increase when compared with its 2017 run.
Sometime in March 2015, the company also revealed that it had begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment option on its American portal, which is Rakuten.com.