Japan-based messaging platform Line has announced its plans to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform.
In an official statement, Line Corp confirmed that it has already started the process of opening a cryptocurrency trading platform, and submitted an application to the Financial Services Agency (FSA), Japan’s regulatory body. The application is currently under review.
After the recent theft of 58 billion yen ($532.84 million) of NEM coins from Coincheck, the FSA announced that it will investigate all cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan to check for security vulnerabilities.
Reuters quoted a spokesperson from Line: “We should be aware of the need to balance between communicating, to beginners or inexperienced users, the value of these financial products and the risks they entail.”
Currently, there are 16 FSA-approved cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan. Line has joined another group of 16 firms, all of which are seeking permission to offer their trading platform services.
Line has also incorporated another firm – Line Financial Corporation – to oversee all its payment-based businesses. Line already has a money transfer and payment platform, called Line Pay, which can be used within the messaging platform, and Line Financial Corporation is a follow up to that.
Line Pay had a massive acceptance rate last year with 40 million registered user and a global transaction volume of above JPY 450 billion.
Japan saw huge growth in cryptocurrency trading last year as the value of digital coins exploded. A huge surge in cryptocurrency retail investors was seen. Also, after the crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges in China, Japan became the largest cryptocurrency market.
Line has a huge user base of over 600 million registered users with 200 million monthly active users globally. It is the largest chat platform in Japan, and thus will easily attract a huge crowd to its cryptocurrency trading platform.
According to Bloomberg, Line is also planning to offer its trading services in Hong Kong and even in Luxembourg.
(Photo: Line)
