Japan's GMO Upgrades Margin Services, Launches Wallet and In-Game BTC Rewards

Japanese giant GMO Internet has made several announcements over the last two days. The first is the addition of four cryptocurrencies to its crypto exchange margin services. The second is the launch of the GMO crypto wallet for both iOS and Android platforms. The third is the launch of Cryptochips, which enables the distribution of crypto rewards within participating game apps.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Upgrading Margin Services

GMO Coin, the cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary of GMO Internet, has added four cryptocurrencies to its margin trading services. From Wednesday, May 30, customers can start trading “ETH/JPY, BCH/JPY, LTC/JPY, [and] XRP/JPY” in addition to the existing BTC/JPY offering on the exchange’s cryptocurrency FX platform used for leveraged trading.

For BTC/JPY, the exchange offers 5x and 10x leverage. For the four new pairs, the exchange only offers 5x leverage. While there is no transaction fee, there is a leverage fee of 0.04% per day. The required margin for all pairs is the Japanese yen equivalent of 20%.

GMO Coin Crypto Wallet

GMO Coin also announced on Wednesday the launch of its “GMO Coin Virtual Currency Wallet” app for Android. Then, on Thursday, the company announced the release of its wallet iOS app.

Using GMO’s wallet app, customers can buy, sell, and transfer cryptocurrencies as well as use it to deposit and withdraw Japanese yen at a bank account linked inside the app.

Customers can also open an account at the exchange through the app as well as check prices of five supported cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, and XRP.

Cryptochips by GMO

On Thursday, May 31, GMO Internet announced that it has created “Cryptochips by GMO” that “enables the distribution of cryptocurrency as remuneration” within gaming apps.

Game developers can add Cryptochips to their games, allowing “players to receive cryptocurrency as remuneration within the game – like a ‘secret pocket money’ – depending on the players’ rankings or when players have achieved missions or acquired items,” GMO described, adding:

As the first initiative, Cryptochips will be mounted on [installed into] the real-time territorial battle game ‘Whimsical War,’ and we will launch the distribution of bitcoin in accordance with player rankings in the game in August 2018.

Whimsical War is free to play with in-app purchases. It is available in the iOS App Store and the Google Play store.

What do you think of GMO’s new offerings? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Whimsical War, and GMO Internet.

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