Prominent Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten has purchased intellectual property (IP) assets from Belfast-based bitcoin payment processor Bitnet and announced the opening of a blockchain lab, reports TechCrunch.
The news comes after a Wall Street Journal article in July said a deal could possibly be in the works. The amount paid for the assets is undisclosed.
Rakuten was among the investors in a $14.5 million Bitnet investment round that took place about two years ago. The online commerce heavyweight integrated the payment processor’s system into some of its e-commerce sites in March last year.
Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten starts accepting Bitcoin
https://coinreport.net/rakuten-buys-ip-assets-from-bitnet-announces-blockchain-lab/