Last updated on April 10th, 2023 at 08:13 am
Japanese messaging app giant, LINE, has announced its plan to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange firm.
Last week, 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 200 million monthly active users worldwide.
Line made the announcement today that it has filed an application 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 that is popular among some 70 million Japanese users. The messaging app also has 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.
