Adoption: Rakuten (Amazon of Japan) to likely introduce BTC as a payment option

[vgk88]

Japanese companies are one of the most innovative in the world. After regulators adopt laws related to the control of the cryptocurrency market, after that we can see a new cryptocurrency boom in Japan.

[Indrawan77]

Any news of adoption by a major organisation is a good thing but I see so many stories like this that never get implemented.

Let’s hope they actually start accepting BTC in the near future.

I agree, we had heard so many times big corporation will adopt bitcoin but it never happened, and if its happened then they still used the third party, it will be good if they really implemented bitcoin without any third party, and we are waiting for bitcoin to become their payment option, it will show that bitcoin still got influence

[Kakmakr]

I just love the way in which Japan is sticking it to the rest of the world.    I guess it is much easier for Rakuten to do this, because Japanese regulators has already decided that Bitcoin would be acknowledged as a currency too. The regulatory environment in the US is a bit different, because they define Bitcoin as a commodity, so Amazon might struggle to do the same.

It just shows us how important regulations and laws are, for the merchant adoption in a country. 

[arakosta]

If Rakuten adds Bitcoin as a form of payment on their platforms, it's going to have a huge effect. If I am not wrong, Rakuten is the 13th or 14th largest company in the world by sales, with a revenue of 6 to 7 billions per year. Besides that, Japanese people are very technology friendly, I believe Bitcoin will thrive on Rakuten and we will see the effects in the increase of adoption and price.

[blockmanity]

If Rakuten adds Bitcoin as a form of payment on their platforms, it's going to have a huge effect. If I am not wrong, Rakuten is the 13th or 14th largest company in the world by sales, with a revenue of 6 to 7 billions per year. Besides that, Japanese people are very technology friendly, I believe Bitcoin will thrive on Rakuten and we will see the effects in the increase of adoption and price.

I have heard their CEO loves Bitcoin (there is no source, just saw some people discussing this on Reddit)

[Herbert2020]

there are a ton of companies in Japan that have been integrating bitcoin in their systems for over a year now. to put simply ever since Japanese government accepted bitcoin as a legal way of payment and also removed all taxes from bitcoin when people use it as a currency, it created a big inventive for ever merchant and big company to start looking into accepting bitcoin. in fact that was one of the biggest reasons for the price rise of 2017.

[veleten]

there are a ton of companies in Japan that have been integrating bitcoin in their systems for over a year now. to put simply ever since Japanese government accepted bitcoin as a legal way of payment and also removed all taxes from bitcoin when people use it as a currency, it created a big inventive for ever merchant and big company to start looking into accepting bitcoin. in fact that was one of the biggest reasons for the price rise of 2017.

don't agree with the main reason for the 2017 price rise because of Japanese companies integrating bitcoins into their payment systems
but I do agree that Japan is at the moment an example to the rest of the world of how to
promote bitcoin and make it a legal and common payment system along fiat
Rakuten is  a huge step in the same direction

[gentlemand]

Sounds fun but it won't make much difference to anyone or anything. Bic Camera which is a big electronics retailer in Japan has accepted BTC payment for ages. You don't hear much about that. As ever merchant adoption is great for existing users. It does zero to attract new ones for assimilation.

[satosibtc1000]

As I noticed that despite the fact that the rate falls bitcoin is beginning to use as an example as a currency and it is very happy. Very much want to as soon as possible bitcoin recognized not only in Japan but also around the world.

[Destico]

 That is one of another way of making progress in business;  when companies or individuals has a lot of options to pay for your services, it will bring more customers to your door step, we are in digital world, for you to operate successful business world wide, I think addition of bitcoin is a good idea,
 If Mr Rakuten finally introduced bitcoin as part of payment, it going to be good news to bitcoin family.

[Willitivity]

This is one of those adoption we've been hoping for to come from big companies. Even though Rakuten have been tipping this since last year, I hope it comes to light this time around. That would be a big push and also coming from a country like Japan. It might bring other big names to join in too.

[hakka]

I just love the way in which Japan is sticking it to the rest of the world.    I guess it is much easier for Rakuten to do this, because Japanese regulators has already decided that Bitcoin would be acknowledged as a currency too. The regulatory environment in the US is a bit different, because they define Bitcoin as a commodity, so Amazon might struggle to do the same.

It just shows us how important regulations and laws are, for the merchant adoption in a country. 

In Japan, Bitcoin or other crypto currency are defined as "Virtual currency" as you say, but that definition will be changed as "Crypto asset" in some years later.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/japan-crypto-classified-as-crypto-assets-to-prevent-confusion-with-legal-tender

I think Japanese government mistook to adopt the name of "Virtual currency" because they just imitated G20's definition.
Although the definition will be changed, according to Financial Service Authority's meeting, bitcoin has not been denied to be used as payment method hereafter.

[samwbc]

I bought my network router from Rakuten.com with bitcoin in 2015.  I'm surprised they haven't enabled bitcoin payments for their customers in Japan yet.

https://www.coinspeaker.com/rakuten-unveils-multi-sig-discount-bitcoin-payments-8296/

https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/rakuten-launches-bitcoin-payments-and-multi-sig-for-us-market

[Peashooter]

Rakuten, the biggest e-commerce store in Japan is most likely to introduce Bitcoin payments. The company is going through some major corporate restructuring in which their cryptocurrency business is becoming part of their Payments and Settlements business.

Article link: https://blockmanity.com/news/bitcoin/amazon-of-japan-rakuten-likely-to-introduce-bitcoin-payments/

This is amazing! Its really nice to see news like this because it inspired everyone to invest , bitcoin is still recovering but you can see that it improves the way companies/countries adapt and accept it. Still hoping that some companies from my country also accept bitcoin , I know it will take a lot of time but I am willing to wait.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

Rakuten, the biggest e-commerce store in Japan is most likely to introduce Bitcoin payments. The company is going through some major corporate restructuring in which their cryptocurrency business is becoming part of their Payments and Settlements business.

Article link: https://blockmanity.com/news/bitcoin/amazon-of-japan-rakuten-likely-to-introduce-bitcoin-payments/

This is amazing! Its really nice to see news like this because it inspired everyone to invest , bitcoin is still recovering but you can see that it improves the way companies/countries adapt and accept it. Still hoping that some companies from my country also accept bitcoin , I know it will take a lot of time but I am willing to wait.

I think it is better to wait with admiration until it becomes a fact. There are already so many news about the introduction of Bitcoin payments, which later nothing resulted or we are waiting so far unsuccessfully.

[Harlot]

How can Rakuten be the Amazon of  Japan if Japan already have made Amazon locally available? This news sites are really killing it, it is hard for companies like Rakuten to shine under their name if they are compared to giants like Amazon. But if Rakuten actually did accept Bitcoin first then they might be on the edge of something, being a pioneer in the e-commerce industry that accepts Bitcoin will really help them land on the right foot especially because their country is known to be crypto friendly, they already have a head start in their own country.

[gentlemand]

How can Rakuten be the Amazon of  Japan if Japan already have made Amazon locally available? This news sites are really killing it, it is hard for companies like Rakuten to shine under their name if they are compared to giants like Amazon. But if Rakuten actually did accept Bitcoin first then they might be on the edge of something, being a pioneer in the e-commerce industry that accepts Bitcoin will really help them land on the right foot especially because their country is known to be crypto friendly, they already have a head start in their own country.

Amazon is not 'Amazon' everywhere. It launched in Australia a year or so ago and so far it's been something of a damp squib. I believe in Japan they're within a few per cent market share of each other.

Many countries have an internet filled with brands that none of us would recognise in the slightest. Just because it dominates us does not mean that's the same everywhere.

[PeRo]

That is great news! I love to hear news when Bitcoin is rising in adoption. I hope other companies will follow them and add Bitcoin as a method of payment as well. If many of those smaller or national companies accept Bitcoin, maybe the big ones (like Amazon or AliExpress) will follow them. That would be a great thing for Bitcoin and the whple cryptocurrency world.

[bitfocus]

The news actually surfaced last August (2018) when some online news sites published Rakuten's plan to buy a BTC exchange, but no follow up about further development since then.