Rakuten Wins License For New Cryptocurrency Exchange

The top financial watchdog of Japan has made a surprising move in the country’s crypto space. Apparently, it decided to grant a license to a crypto exchange being re-introduced by none other than e-commerce giant Rakuten. Here is everything about it in a nutshell.

Introducing Rakuten Wallet

According to the official report, the country’s very own Finance Service Agency or FSA revealed the news recently and stated that the new crypto exchange is now officially registered with the Kanto Local Financial Bureau. It is a called Rakuten Wallet, a digital currency exchange service provider working under the Payment Service Act of the country.

Rakuten also made its own official announcement via a separate statement. The company wholly owns Rakuten Wallet, which will reportedly replace an exchange dubbed as Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc. The latter, on the other hand, is the exchange acquired by the company back in August last year for about $2.4 million.

Rakuten Wallet comes with an official description, according to the FSA, as a “virtual currency exchange service provider.” The application was submitted to the agency backed in September last year. The Kanto Local Finance Bureau is said to have requested Rakuten regarding the reconstruction of its management system to which the company did so. The request was given on April 25, 2018.

Rebranding The Exchange Offering

The firm decided to rebrand the exchange offering to Rakuten Wallet earlier this month. In its official announcement, the company claimed that it would cease the order at the end of March and that all of its users could finally sign up for the new Rakuten Wallet service, which should officially start come April.

The company also suggested that Everybody’s Bitcoin had been operating as a “deemed” crypto exchange provider only, a status that it held since its official launch back in March 2017. This was during the time when it applied for a license. As mentioned, the company subsequently received a business improvement order and has since then restructured its own management system. Even more so, it introduced some upgrades to its internal systems in an attempt to receive the license for the rebranded entity.

At the same time, the FSA granted a license to another exchange called DeCurret. The latter is expected to offer spot trading specifically designed for at least four cryptos. It would reportedly start on April 16 in Japan. As for new accounts, they will start within the week.