Rakuten, Inc. is set to acquire Everybody’s Bitcoin, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange as it starts its sojourn into cryptocurrency. This was revealed in a press release dated August 31, 2018, on Rakuten’s blog.
Rakuten’s Acquisition of Everybody’s Bitcoin
A stock purchase agreement between Rakuten Card Co., Ltd. and Traders Investment, Inc. the parent company of Everybody’s Bitcoin, would enable the acquisition of Everybody’s Bitcoin by Rakuten. A press release on the Rakuten blog reveals this details.
The acquisition is worth a sum of 256 million yen, a value of 5,100 shares of Everybody’s Bitcoin, which is 100% share of the firm. The agreement between both parties is to be completed on 31st August 2018, and the date of the Stock acquisition is slated to hold on the 1st October, 2018.
Rakuten Inc. and Its Interest In Cryptocurrencies
Rakuten, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo, founded in 1997 by Hiroshi Mikitani. The firm owns the largest eCommerce site in Japan and among the largest in the world by sales.
The press release states that Rakuten’s interest is not only limited to eCommerce as it holds an interest in 70 different services which includes “travel, digital contents and communications, to FinTech (financial) services such as credit cards, banking, securities, insurance, and electronic money.”
Before its recent venture into cryptocurrency, the firm had earlier established a blockchain lab in 2016, located in Belfast. The lab is dedicated to research on blockchain technology.
The release states that Rakuten expects the “cryptocurrency-based payments in e-commerce, offline retail and in P2P payments will grow in the future,” subsequently stimulating its interest in providing cryptocurrency exchange functions.
Meanwhile, Everybody’s Bitcoin exchange is an exchange established in March 2017. Though it’s fully functional but its yet to obtain the official license from the authorities.
Rakuten states that the firm
“decided to acquire Everybody’s Bitcoin shares so that it can realise the early registration as a cryptocurrency exchange and develop cryptocurrency services to customers by combining the know-how of everybody’s bitcoin as a cryptocurrency exchange, and the know-how of Rakuten Group as a provider of various financial services.”
The Rakuten acquisition will aid its expansion into the crptosphere as it further increases its sevice. This shows another trend of “cryptocurrency race”, as Rakuten joins Yahoo Finance. Reported by Blockchainreporter today, Yahoo Finance made its surprise entry into the world of cryptocurrencies featuring integration with major digital tokens in the world.
