Rakuten announced the official launch of live trading on Rakuten Wallet, its new cryptocurrency exchange, via a press release on August 19, 2019. This story is significant because it presents another example of a large company entering the cryptocurrency space. In 2018, the so-called Amazon of Japan earned 1.101 trillion JPY ( over $10.4 billion USD) in revenue. While major companies like Facebook and Walmart are planning to launch their own USD Stablecoins mainly focused on users in the United States market, Rakuten is looking toward the Japanese market with the launch of Rakuten Wallet.

Rakuten and Crypto: Major Milestones

March 2015 — Rakuten starts accepting BTC for payments on its e-commerce store

October 1, 2018 — Finalizes acquisition of another exchange, Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc., for $2.4 million

March 1, 2019 — Renamed the exchange to Rakuten Wallet

March 25, 2019 — Japan’s Financial Service Agency (FSA) grants a crypto exchange license

May 29, 2019 — Rakuten Wallet partners with CipherTrace, an AML solution provider.

August 19, 2019 — Trading on Rakuten Wallet goes live

Listed Coins

Rakuten Wallet currently supports trading for three cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum). It’s possible that more coins will be added in the near future. Possible candidates appear to be XRP, Litecoin, and EOS since the logos of these coins are listed on the exchange’s website.

Sign Up/ Who Can Use The Exchange

Currently, Rakuten Wallet is a crypto exchange mobile app limited only to residents of Japan. In order to trade on the exchange app, users first have to sign up for an account on Rakuten Bank. Rakuten Wallet provides fiat-crypto trading via Japanese Yen (JPY).

After opening up a Rakuten Bank account, users must answer a series of questions regarding their backgrounds. These include details about employment, income, the reason for opening an account, and how many years of experience in the crypto market.

Rakuten iOS App

Fees

Fiat deposits and trading of cryptos are both free, except for at maintenance times.

Flat fees for withdraws are as follows: 300 JPY, 0.001 BTC, 0.01 BCH, and 0.01 ETH. For larger withdrawal amounts, flat fees can be much lower than exchanges that charge by percentages. For smaller amounts, though, these withdrawal fees can be much higher.

Custodial or Non-Custodial?

The exchange will be custodial. Rakuten Trust will be in charge of keeping user funds safe. It plans to do so via cold wallets and a multi-signature scheme. As an additional security precaution, the exchange has implemented two-factor authentication.

Accessing the Exchange

Rakuten Wallet is only available on mobile devices and does not support trading on desktop.

Android — Already available

iOS — Available sometime in September 2019