Cryptonews Altcoin News

Chat App Giant Line to Hand out its Link Crypto to E-pay Customers

Adoption Japan

Author

Tim Alper

Author

Tim Alper

About Author

Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

Author Profile

Last updated:

June 26, 2023

Why Trust Cryptonews

Cryptonews has covered the cryptocurrency industry topics since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journalists and analysts have extensive experience in market analysis and blockchain technologies. We strive to maintain high editorial standards, focusing on factual accuracy and balanced reporting across all areas - from cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects to industry events, products, and technological developments. Our ongoing presence in the industry reflects our commitment to delivering relevant information in the evolving world of digital assets. Read more about Cryptonews

The Japan-based chat app operator Line will offer customers handouts of its cryptoasset as a bonus when they make fiat payments using its e-pay platform.

The new promotional drive comes six months after a Line and Yahoo Japan merger under the Z Holdings umbrella. The Z Holdings merger, first mooted in late 2019, saw the Line founder Naver, a South Korean internet giant, and SoftBank, the Yahoo Japan majority owner, join forces to create a new East Asian internet, fintech and crypto powerhouse.

The new firm has already announced plans to merge the existing Line Pay platform with the Yahoo Japan-run PayPay, an e-pay platform with some 80m users.

The Line payment platform currently links to the Line chat app in the latter’s interface. And the same app also has a tab that directs its users to the Line crypto exchange: the Line Bitmax Wallet.

As the firm looks to integrate its two e-pay solutions, it has announced that customers who use their Line Pay accounts to pay at one of over 3.8m PayPay partner stores nationwide will receive around USD 1 worth of Line’s link (LN) token as a reward.

Per All About, the payments will be handed out on a first-come-first-served basis, with around USD 912,000 worth of tokens up for grabs until September 30.

The link token got a boost earlier this month when it was listed on South Korea’s Bithumb exchange.

Earlier this year, the e-commerce heavyweight Rakuten, one of Z Holdings’ biggest rivals in the fast-growing Japanese crypto space, announced that it would allow customers to convert loyalty points to bitcoin (BTC). Rakuten has also created a platform that allows its customers to top up their Rakuten e-pay accounts using bitcoin and ethereum (ETH).

SoftBank raised eyebrows in the sector when it sold its controlling stake in the domestic crypto exchange TaoTao to another rival, the SBI Group – apparently with a view to focusing on the success of the Line Bitmax Wallet trading platform.

But SoftBank has also backed a large number of crypto projects this year, with a spate of investments in spring before a USD 200m investment in the Latin American exchange giant Mercado Bitcoin in July.

Naver, meanwhile, has been mentioned as a possible buyer of Bithumb. The exchange’s majority owner has been looking to exit the crypto space, but the trail appears to have gone cold with prospective buyers unsure about the asking price and regulatory concerns.

____

Learn more:
– Link Token Enjoys Japanese Post-Listing Success, Says Chat App Line
– Chat App Line Offers Crypto Cashback-type Rewards for e-Pay Spending

– Facebook and Telegram Rival Line to Bring its Token to 82 Million Users
– A Sign of Adoption: Line Says 62% of its Exchange Users Are New to Crypto

– Japanese Regulator Likely to Create New DeFi, NFT & CBDC Regulations
– Japanese Central Bank Starts Testing on Digital Yen

– South Korean Tech Giants May Capitalize on ‘Rising Crypto Pay Demand’
– Why Three Tech Behemoths Are Vying to Test Korea’s CBDC