Sony to restart cryptocoin exchange Whalefin

[bbc.reporter]

Sony? This news was shocking for me hehehe. However, what does this imply for the cryptospace? If this exchange becomes a very successful business for Sony, does this also imply that Samsung and other similar companies might make similar business decisions?

Also the article mentioned a new app for the exchange. We might see this app installable not only on Sony's phones, it will be in the Playstation, Sony TVs and other hardware devices.



Sony is planning to restart the crypto exchange Whalefin, which it bought from crypto lender Amber Group last year.

The deal was reported earlier by Wu Blockchain, and the details were later revealed by the Block.
On Monday, Whalefin put out a notice that parent company Amber Japan was rebranding to S.BLOX. The notice added that the company was bought by Quetta Web, a unit of Sony, in August 2023.

Sony plans to restart the crypto exchange soon with a new app, the firm said in a release on the PR Times.

Read in full https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/07/01/sony-buys-ambers-japan-unit-to-enter-the-crypto-market-reports/

[mk4]

I guess someone on the Sony board figured out how degenerate people generally are and how much demand gambling has.

If this exchange becomes a very successful business for Sony, does this also imply that Samsung and other similar companies might make similar business decisions?

I totally doubt it. This acquisition and business decision is surprising enough — crypto is totally out of the scope of Sony and these companies' expertise and what they're known for doing.

[Oshosondy]

I guess someone on the Sony board figured out how degenerate people generally are and how much demand gambling has.

It is an exchange that Sony is going for and not a gambling site. I can say that most altcoins is like people that are buying and trading it are gambling but that does not mean that they are gambling but it is very risky.

I totally doubt it. This acquisition and business decision is surprising enough — crypto is totally out of the scope of Sony and these companies' expertise and what they're known for doing.

I also doubt this.

[shield132]

I wonder if Sony has statistics of what percentage of coupon purchases come from crypto websites like Bitrefill. Maybe there is a demand for crypto payments and they want to enter this field?
Sony is into Electronics, games, movies, animation and the music industry. To be honest, it's a little surprising that Sony acquired a crypto exchange and now plans to run it finally. It's an interesting move, whatever Sony does, does it very well (except Xperia). I personally expect something cool and unexpected from them, they might leave their footprint in Web3.

[ABCbits]

Also the article mentioned a new app for the exchange. We might see this app installable not only on Sony's phones, it will be in the Playstation, Sony TVs and other hardware devices.

It's not impossible and in past Sony also did research and make patent related with blockchain. But AFAIK there's no news which claim Sony add blockchain feature to their digital services, so i have doubt it'll happen anytime soon. I also recall Sony global marketshare on smartphone is very low, where many news simply state it's below 1%.

[slaman29]

Remember when supposedly you could mine Bitcoin with washing machines and mobile phones?

Remember the big blockchain phone that cost same as iphone? And supposedly it got sold out on first manufacturing?

This is going to be the same shit. Nobody is going to use it the way we think. Even if people use it, it's not benefiting crypto. It's just all CEX flavor thingies.

[JollyGood]

This is definitely newsworthy as it makes another massive international brand become associated with crypto but I am not optimistic about the near future plans Sony could have with Whalefin. There is absolutely no announcement or indication that crypto will be implemented in to day-to-day activities when using Sony products therefore their business decision must be based on a different perspective.

Sony is planning to restart the crypto exchange Whalefin, which it bought from crypto lender Amber Group last year.

[Faisal2202]

Sony? This news was shocking for me hehehe. However, what does this imply for the cryptospace? If this exchange becomes a very successful business for Sony, does this also imply that Samsung and other similar companies might make similar business decisions?

Also the article mentioned a new app for the exchange. We might see this app installable not only on Sony's phones, it will be in the Playstation, Sony TVs and other hardware devices.

So they are planning to give hard time to Elon Musk's twitter. As he also said he would make it a full-fledged crypto exchange. Same like that Sony will be promoting this exchange via other products, so maybe in the future people could buy video games from sony directly using this exchange, although using this exchange on sony TVs or in PlayStation is not a good plan, maybe they will only allow us to mirror our application from smartphone to these devices as placing the software of exchange in these products is not good and risky as well.

Overall its a good decisions, those gamers who yet to adopt crypto will adopt it now. This will increase the users and if other companies think to step into this sector of providing exchange services then that would also steramline the adoption of crypto. Overall its a win win. Let's see what there product has to offer.

[Potato Chips]

Also the article mentioned a new app for the exchange. We might see this app installable not only on Sony's phones, it will be in the Playstation, Sony TVs and other hardware devices.

For what it's worth, it appears they did release a statement about their plans of collaborating with Sony Group’s other businesses

WhaleFin has been renamed to S.BLOX Co., which plans to collaborate with Sony Group’s other businesses to generate additional value for its crypto trading services, according to the statement.

But whatever their plans are, I have a feeling it might be region locked to japan... or at least, only for a while if it booms. 🤔

[Rikafip]

However, what does this imply for the cryptospace?

It just confirms what we know for some time now, that mainstream companies want their piece of (crypto) cake.

If this exchange becomes a very successful business for Sony, does this also imply that Samsung and other similar companies might make similar business decisions?

Whether they go actually in exchange business remains to be seen, but I can see Samsung and other big companies getting more involved into anything crypto related. Iirc, wasn't Samung already involved in some crypto stuff like mobile phones with crypto wallets?

[dkbit98]

This could all be connected with PlayStation new patent for NFT game assets, and SONY is probably hoping this will be a lot more popular.
I doubt they can do anything serious with new exchange for worldwide market, but Japan often have unique local services that don't work outside Japan.

[RickDeckard]

But whatever their plans are, I have a feeling it might be region locked to japan... or at least, only for a while if it booms. 🤔

I don't believe Sony will stretch out this cryptocurrency besides Japan, but it's purely my guess considering the knowledge that I have of Sony and their (usual) business decisions considering their market in Japan. Their announcement, however, does not state directly where they will operate in the future[1]:

Amber Japan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Jun Watanabe), which operates the cryptocurrency trading service "WhaleFin," changed its name to S.BLOX Co., Ltd. on July 1, 2024. "WhaleFin" is scheduled to be renewed in the future. The company will become a subsidiary of the Sony Group in 2023 and will promote collaboration within the Sony Group in the future.

 In addition to redesigning the UI screen, the renewal of "WhaleFin" will include the release of a new app to provide an easier-to-use service. After the renewal, we also plan to further expand the supported currencies and functions.


   S.BLOX Co., Ltd. was acquired by Quetta Web Co., Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation) in August 2023 and has been operating cryptocurrency trading services. Going forward, as a member of the Sony Group, we will work to create new added value in cryptocurrency trading services by collaborating with the group's diverse businesses.


About S.BLOX Corporation

Company name: S.BLOX Co., Ltd. (formerly Amber Japan Co., Ltd.)

Address: 2-5-10 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Established: January 10, 2018

Representative: Jun Watanabe, President and CEO

Capital: 1,708,179,531 yen

Investment ratio: Quetta Web Co., Ltd.*: 100%

               *A wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation

Business description: Cryptocurrency exchange business

Cryptocurrency Exchange Operator Kanto Regional Financial Bureau No. 00016

Certified payment business association to which it belongs: Japan Cryptocurrency Exchange Association

URL: https://www.whalefin.com/ja

Independently of it, it's always good to know that big brands are choosing to adventure into segments such as this. Looking forward to see what comes out of it.
[1]https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000087.000042886.html

[bbc.reporter]

I guess someone on the Sony board figured out how degenerate people generally are and how much demand gambling has.

If this exchange becomes a very successful business for Sony, does this also imply that Samsung and other similar companies might make similar business decisions?

I totally doubt it. This acquisition and business decision is surprising enough — crypto is totally out of the scope of Sony and these companies' expertise and what they're known for doing.

Hehe agreed, however, I can also understand if someone will begin to argue that it might be possible for a very big software company similar to Microsoft or a technological company similar to Google to start exploring business opportunities in the cryptospace. I reckon with their billions of dollars they can create their own DeFi networks and start their own LPs in their own automated marker makers and their own DEX.

[NotATether]

I guess someone on the Sony board figured out how degenerate people generally are and how much demand gambling has.

I'm not going to lie, this seems very out of place for Sony, if you ask me. Sony is an entertainment and devices company first of all, and they don't have anything to do with crypto.

To me this sounds like when Samsung announced a "crypto phone" that was basically a hardware wallet and we've never heard any updates from it since. It's probably dead by now.

[mindrust]

Sony is trying to become relevant again. Their best selling product is playstation and even its days are numbered. When people realize buying a big game console is a stupid idea, sony will lose the last best selling product in their hands.

Now they are trying to launch a crypto exchange? We probably won’t like what they will deliver. It will probably be another kyc infested cesspool. Cypto is open source and freedom and sony is the exact opposite of these values. Sony means DRM, KYC, closed source etc.

I don’t expect anything good to come out of it.

[Synchronice]

Sony is trying to become relevant again. Their best selling product is playstation and even its days are numbered. When people realize buying a big game console is a stupid idea, sony will lose the last best selling product in their hands.

I like Sony and their quality. I bought Playstation over Xbox and gaming PC because Sony has amazing PS exclusive games. Series of InFamous, God Of War, Spider-Man, Horizon, Ghost Of Tsushima, etc. These games are insanely good and entertaining, I got so hooked up that I even took a vacation to play God Of War. If they keep making PS exclusive games, believe me, people will buy a console. It's not really a stupid idea to buy Sony's console if you want to play video games. When you have a laptop or pc, you have to constantly upgrade components to play games but when you own Playstation, you just buy it and it lasts for almost a decade.

I also own Sony A7 III and Sony lens, I'm very grateful.

Now they are trying to launch a crypto exchange? We probably won’t like what they will deliver. It will probably be another kyc infested cesspool. Cypto is open source and freedom and sony is the exact opposite of these values. Sony means DRM, KYC, closed source etc.

I don’t expect anything good to come out of it.

I am completely lost here. Why did they decide to launch a crypto exchange? Doesn't make sense from a company that is into a different business but I have to admit that I am a little intrigued what they plan to deliver. Will it be global or will it be only in Japan?

[Rikafip]

Why did they decide to launch a crypto exchange?

Diversification I guess.

Doesn't make sense from a company that is into a different business but I have to admit that I am a little intrigued what they plan to deliver.

I am not surprised at all that a multibillion tech conglomerate such as Sony wants a piece of crypto cake.

Will it be global or will it be only in Japan?

Japan only.

[tabas]

I didn't know that Sony was going to dive into crypto. They're known for the industry that they're in, especially PlayStation, gaming, etc. So, if they're doing this, maybe the idea is to try new things and expand their money wherever they can. With this venture, I'm not sure if the article has said something about Sony as the one that's literally going to manage it but it's said that they're part of it and they have invested in it. As for that article, it's said about NFT, maybe one thing is that most of their games through PS will have NFT products.

[bbc.reporter]

I guess someone on the Sony board figured out how degenerate people generally are and how much demand gambling has.

I'm not going to lie, this seems very out of place for Sony, if you ask me. Sony is an entertainment and devices company first of all, and they don't have anything to do with crypto.

To me this sounds like when Samsung announced a "crypto phone" that was basically a hardware wallet and we've never heard any updates from it since. It's probably dead by now.

However, this is a real exchange. What are they going to do with this? Similar to what @tabas has mentioned, this might be for NFTs for their games on the Playstation. If we are going to speculate further, Sony might be creating their own cryptospace for the economy for different games, each with their own tokens where you can exchange for other tokens of other games.

However, it might only be an ordinary exchange in the cryptospace hehehehe.

[mindrust]

Will it be global or will it be only in Japan?

Japan only.

Makes sense.

It is because…

Sony is still… kind of… big in Japan.

Not as big in anywhere else in the world. Playstation and some mirrorless cameras and that’s pretty much what sony is at the moment.

No European or American dude will invest in Sony’s weird crypto exchange and they know it very well. But the Japanese ain’t like the rest of the world. They love weird shit. Some weird shit they produce, should never leave Japan.