Popular Line Messaging App Starts Crypto Trading Spinoff

-
Bitcoin Plunges As Investors Suffer 'Reality Check'
(FILES) This file photo taken on June 17, 2014 shows bitcoin medals in Washington, DC. KAREN BLEIER / AFP
Japan’s biggest messaging app Line on Wednesday said it was launching a financial services spinoff to allow users to exchange and trade virtual currencies.
Line said its new business would “provide a variety of financial services, including a place to exchange and transact virtual currencies, loans, and insurance.”
The transactions will be made inside the messaging app, which already incorporates a mobile payment system.
The line has a relatively small presence in the US and Europe but is hugely popular in Japan and several other countries in Asia, where cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are heavily traded.
Line said it had already begun the process of registering its new virtual currency business with Japan’s Financial Services Agency, which regulates cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.
Its shares rose on the announcement, closing up 2.57 percent.
The announcement follows a massive $530 million heist of cryptocurrency last week from Japanese virtual currency exchange Coincheck.
The loss exceeds even the $480 million stolen in 2014 from another Japanese virtual currency exchange, MtGox.
Japan’s government has slapped Coincheck with an administrative order, and governments around the region and further afield have begun tightening regulations on virtual currency trade.
But cryptocurrencies have remained stubbornly attractive to investors, particularly in Japan where ultra-low interest rates have left few good options for returns on cash.
Line was launched in 2011 after Japan’s quake-tsunami tragedy damaged telecoms infrastructure.
It combines features from Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp with games and a mobile payment service.
AFP

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why we accepted list of APC candidates from Rivers- INEC

-
Image
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that it collected the list of candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State because there was no court order or judgment barring it from doing so. The Supreme Court had on October 22, 2018, descended on the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal for granting an application in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in respect of the conduct of the party’s congresses in the state. A five-man panel of the Supreme Court, in its unanimous judgment, held that the Court of Appeal committed “a sacrilegious exercise of discretion” by favouring the APC in its June 21, 2018, judgment despite the party’s decision to conduct its congresses in Rivers State in disobedience of subsisting orders of the court. The Supreme Court faulted the action of the APC, and described the conduct of the party’s ward, local government and state congresses of May 19, 20 and 21, 2018, respectively, in River
Read more

Arewa Consultative Forum Endorses Buhari For Second Term

-
Image
President Muhammadu Buhari speaks during a meeting at the State House in Abuja. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for second term ahead of the presidential election scheduled to hold on Saturday. The forum announced its support for the President in a statement by its acting Chairman, Musa Kwande, on Tuesday. It noted that it carefully studied the antecedents of major presidential candidates, the manifestoes and policy documents of their parties, alongside the need for social, political and economic stability in the country. The ACF explained that this made it come to the conclusion that President Buhari deserved a second term to consolidate on his achievements. It added that its stand was informed by the strides taken by the Buhari administration to improve and reposition the nation economically. Some of the steps highlighted by the forum include the multi-billion Dollar Mambilla hydropower project, the exploration of oil in Gon
Read more

BREAKING: Court Grants Ex-SGF Babachir Lawal, Two Others Bail

-
Image
An Abuja High Court has granted bail to the former Secretary-General of the Federation,  Babachir  Lawal and two others. The court on Wednesday granted them bail in the sum of N50m each with one surety. The sureties must be residents within the jurisdiction of the court; they must possess titles to lands within the jurisdiction of the court, show evidence of payment of tax for the past three years. The court further noted that each of the defendants is to deposit their international passport with the court pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions and are to remain in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Mr Babachir is being accused of diverting funds meant for the clearing of evasive plants in the troubled northeast. Next trial has been fixed for March 18, 2019.
Read more