- Remixpoint intends to promote local cryptocurrency adoption locally
- Trials will initially cover trips between Tokyo’s 23 wards and Haneda and Narita airports
- Japan is ahead of many developed countries in cryptocurrency adoption
Tokyo-based Hinomaru is beginning a trial run for crypto payments for their limousine services. This is in a bid by cryptocurrency exchange operator Remixpoint’s bid to promote local cryptocurrency adoption.
Use Crypto to Pay for Rides
According to reliable sources, the formal announcement of the deal between Remixpoint Inc. and Hinomaru Limousines is expected on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. The partnership will allow passengers to use cryptocurrencies to pay for rides “between Tokyo and the capital’s two main airports.”
The sources disclosed that a trial run will begin later this month and will initially cover trips between Tokyo’s 23 wards and Haneda and Narita airports and the initial payments will be in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum.
Japan is the second-largest cryptocurrency market in the world and it is believed the country is on the way to becoming a leader of the fourth industrial revolution. As of March 2018, the East Asia nation had close to 3.5 million citizens involved in cryptocurrency trading and especially the Bitcoin.
The country has for some time now held a pseudo crypto capital where cryptocurrency innovation and adoption are as widespread as other leading technologies. The country has had a harsh cryptocurrency regulatory climate but last month Japan’s financial regulator granted the cryptocurrency industry body the legal means to plan guidelines for domestic exchanges. This included creating regulations to check insider trading, anti-money laundering (AML) and security standards to protect customer assets.
Japan on the Forefront
While Japan may not be taking a leading role in the technological development and funding of cryptocurrencies and ICOs for Startups, the country is far ahead of others like the US in consumer adoption of digital currencies.
Tokyo may not yet be a startup hub like Silicon Valley are even leading in terms of blockchain innovation but crypto adoption is another story altogether. Japan’s largest electronic retailer already accepts Bitcoin as payment while other companies such as GMO are giving their employees the option of receiving Bitcoin as part of their monthly salaries while banks are adopting Ripple’s technology.
The deal between Remixpoint, a software development company that develops energy management systems besides operating Bitpoint, one of the 16 cryptocurrency exchanges licensed by Japan’s FSA and Hinomaru, a company that runs a fleet of 362 limousines and 161 taxis is a “part of part of a bigger trend to move cryptocurrencies beyond financial speculation and into commerce, including retail payments.” The trials will begin with limousines and if all goes according to plan, they will expand the service to include regular taxi rides.
