Japan’s FSA Set to Approve Line’s BitMax Crypto Exchange
Line Corporation, the firm in charge of Japan’s largest messaging app, Line Messenger, is set to be approved for its BitMax bitcoin exchange from the Financial Services Agency (FSA), reports Bloomberg on June 20, 2019.
Line’s BitMax Awaits FSA Nod
Per sources close to the matter, Line Corp is on the verge of securing a license to launch a new cryptocurrency exchange called BitMax in Japan.
Line is reportedly holding talks with the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), and if all goes as planned, they could be given the go-ahead to launch the exchange later this month.
Once approved, BitMax could launch operations in Japan within a few weeks, and the platform will allow the entire 80 million customers of Line to seamlessly buy and sell blockchain-based virtual currencies including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and the firm’s native Link token.
According to Bloomberg, Line’s shares has hit its lowest ebb since 2016, due to lack of new user sign-ups, forcing the company to turn to blockchain technology in a bid to launch new products that could transform its dwindling fortunes.
As reported by BTCManager earlier in June 2019, Line joined forces with global payments giant Visa in a bid to make its Line pay payments solution available to users in all Visa-supported jurisdictions across the world.
In July 2018, Line announced the launch of its Singapore-based crypto-to-crypto exchange called BitBox.
Now, with the impending launch of BitMax, Line has made it clear that the latter will share the same backend infrastructure with BitBox exchange, which is yet to secure a license from the FSA.
Reportedly, Line itself is also looking to obtain a separate banking license from the Japanese financial watchdog to enable it to integrate more cryptocurrencies into its existing offerings like online shopping.
However, insider sources say the FSA may not approve Line’s application until next year.
That’s not all, Line is also nursing plans to develop a stock brokerage operations in collaboration with Nomura Holdings Inc. later this year, with its traditional banking platform which is being developed in conjunction with Mizuho Financial Group, slated to go live in 2020.
