Rakuten, the Japan-based online retailer that’s a rival to America’s Amazon and China’s Alibaba, has opened registrations for its new Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, the Rakuten Wallet, according to a Forbes report published on April 18.
Cryptocurrency investors predict that Rakuten’s move into crypto will force other online retail giants like Amazon and Alibaba to follow suit and begin accepting crypto or at least open cryptocurrency-related services.
Sharing these same thoughts is Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by adjusted daily trading volume.
Will Online Retail Companies Drive the Next Wave of Bitcoin and Crypto Adoption?
Mass Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption has been a long-term goal, put off due to stumbling blocks such as uncertain regulatory environment, suppression from banks and governments, lack of proper blockchain infrastructure, and issues with scalability and usability.
However, as Bitcoin and the crypto industry grows and matures, these problems are beginning to get resolved.
New crypto and blockchain infrastructure is being built right now, and companies like Rakuten, which has operations across online retail, online banking, media, and communications, see the potential cryptocurrencies have to disrupt payments in the future.
As stated by the company late last year:
“The role of cryptocurrency-based payments in e-commerce, offline retail and in peer-to-peer payments will grow in the future.”
