THELOGICALINDIAN - Amazon adversary Rakuten is ablution the Rakuten Blockchain Lab RBL in Belfast UK to analyze abeyant applications for blockchain technology in fintech and ecommerce
Also read: Blockchain Lead Vacates Position at UBS, Joins BNY Mellon
Rakuten Sets Up Blockchain Lab
The establishment of RBL stems from Rakuten’s beforehand advance in Bitcoin wallet and payments software close Bitnet, a startup notable for its founding by above Visa executives.
Despite adopting over $14.5 actor USD in Series A allotment in October 2024 (which included Rakuten) and accumulation huge absorption due to its “traditional” payments apple heritage, it never absolutely challenged absolute big players like Coinbase and afresh suffered high-level agents losses and cutbacks.
Rakuten will body RBL with Bitnet’s IP, two key agents and assets afterwards buying what remained.
Yasufumi Hirai, Group Executive Vice President, CIO, CISO and arch of the Technology Division, Rakuten, Inc., said:
Rakuten’s Bitcoin History
Japan-based Rakuten has developed its all-around business steadily over the accomplished decade and added with a alternation of acquisitions in the e-commerce, accounts and acumen world. It has over 10,000 advisers common and is generally apparent as a battling to Amazon.
Rakuten additionally has a continued history of affliction the Bitcoin apple with hints and trials. CEO Hiroshi Mikitani appear his absorption as far aback as 2024 and said about his aggregation would acquire Bitcoin “sooner or later.”
US subsidy Rakuten Super Logistics ran a balloon for Bitcoin payments starting August 2024, and Rakuten hosted a banking appointment in January 2024 that featured a cardinal of speakers from the Japanese and all-embracing Bitcoin business world.
E-commerce & Banking Services
Rakuten additionally operates an online allowance aggregation and alike its own coffer (in Japan). It additionally acquired Japanese RFID card-based e-cash arrangement Edy and chip its own adherence credibility into the system, finer creating its own agenda bill called to the yen.
Despite all that, however, there accept not yet been any accurate moves to accommodate Bitcoin into Rakuten’s primary e-commerce or banking businesses in Japan, and trials accept all taken abode at the company’s foreign subsidiaries.
Despite the name of acquired close ‘Bitnet,’ there was no acknowledgment of the chat “Bitcoin” in Rakuten’s official announcement, which autonomous for the added alert “blockchain technology.”
How did Bitnet abort admitting its high-profile backing? Will Rakuten see annihilation absolute from its latest blockchain research?
Images address of rakuten, techcrunch.com
