Japan: Online Giant Rakuten Buys Crypto Exchange

https://ethereumworldnews.com/japanese-online-retail-giant-buys-bitcoin-exchange/
https://www.investopedia.com/news/japan-online-giant-rakuten-buys-crypto-exchange/

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten has announced plans to acquire a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange called Everybody's Bitcoin that was established in December 2016 and launched in Japan in March 2017. It remains an unlicensed exchange that was the subject of a probe from Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) in January of this year followed the Coincheck hack, which saw a cryptocurrency theft exceeding $500 million. (See also: Coincheck May Have Suffered The Worst Hack In Cryptocurrency.)

The acquisition will cost Rakuten 265 million yen (around $2.4 million) and will be effective Oct. 1. Though the Rakuten group is primarily known for a e-commerce, it also offers a diversified range of services spanning travel and leisure, digital content and communications and financial technology services like credit cards, insurance, banking, securities and digital money. The move to acquire a cryptocurrency platform is attributed to the increasing demands from a growing number of foreign exchange clients of its securities division who wish to have a cryptocurrency exchange service.