Japanese messaging app giant, LINE, officially launched its own Non Fungible Token (NFT) called LINE NFT on April 14, 2022.
It partners with a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate, Yoshimoto Kogyo, is designed to offer approximately 40,000 different NFTs to its millions of users.
What is LINE NFT?
LINE NFT is a one-stop NFT marketplace that allows for the initial sale of NFTs, as well as the buying and selling of NFTs among users.
So, Line NFT allows secondary distribution, making NFTs available in a wide variety of genres, including games, art, anime, popular characters, and video.
The official launch followed the announcement by the company at the end of January 2018 to have its cryptocurrency exchange platform. And in 24 months, the LINE NFT was made public.
Recalled that in 2018, more capital firms queued to partner with another giant messaging app, Telegram, in the sales of its ICOs, which is expected to launch in the market soon.
This time, Line, which knows that a huge number of its app users are cryptocurrency traders isn’t joking to tap into that great potential.
Line has over 600 million registered users and 230 million active monthly users worldwide.
Line in an announcement had applied with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) – Japan’s financial regulator – to register and launch a cryptocurrency exchange.
Its application is currently under review.
Line cryptocurrency trading is expected to come live within its chat application which is popular among some 70 million Japanese users. The messaging app also has a huge number of users in Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan.
The messaging app isn’t stopping in Japan, but extending its cryptocurrency exchange to Hong Kong and cryptocurrency-friendly Luxembourg, Bloomberg reports.
With Line’s announcement, it means another cryptocurrency giant, Coinbase, will have a competitor in the market with its over 13 million users across 32 countries.
Line is among over 30 cryptocurrency exchange operators in Japan that have submitted applications with the FSA to register and launch operations.
According to report, FSA has so far recognized and granted permits to 16 exchanges, with the rest awaiting clearance.
The messaging giant’s initiative to offer cryptocurrency trading comes alongside the launch of a new company called Line Financial, which will also delve into offering financial services to users.
An excerpt from Line’s announcement reads:
“Going forward, LINE will use this new company as a base as it proceeds with preparations to provide a variety of financial services, including a place to exchange and transact virtual currencies, loans, and insurance – all from the LINE app – and will continue to grow its financial business. “
Line’s financial service includes its popular mobile money transfer and payment service Line Pay, a service enabled within Line’s messaging app.
“In 2017, Line pay topped 40 million registered users globally with annual transaction volume exceeding ¥450 billion ($4.1 billion),” ccn reports.
Line is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices with the ability for users to exchange texts, images, video and audio, and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences, which was released on June 23, 2011.